


Blood Bound

by toxzen



Category: Original Work
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Fantasy, First Time, Hand Jobs, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Shape Shifters, Supernatural - Freeform, Vampires, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2018-10-31 01:46:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 48
Words: 150,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10889196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toxzen/pseuds/toxzen
Summary: Vampires are known for one thing primarily: drinking blood. When it is discovered by a shifter that he doesn't partake in this as often as he should, Lucian finds himself with an offering of shifter blood to satiate his thirst and stave off any resulting blood frenzies that would occur from a lack of feeding. However, there are several problems that result from feeding off a shifter, the least of which being Lucian finds himself incredibly attracted to said shifter.





	1. ARC ONE: Chapter One

“Maybe next time, you don't open with your daddy issues?” Myrna said. She took a dainty sip of her vodka martini.

“I, I did not _open_ with the daddy issues,” I scoffed. My eyes lingered on the backs of the departing pair that I had scared away. “They were mentioned along the way.”

“Well, either way, you cocked it up,” Myrna said. She slapped her hand on my shoulder and squeezed.

“Yeah, yeah, I did.” I rolled my eyes and rotated on the bar stool so I was facing the counter. I sighed and picked up my own vodka martini.

“Don’t go into a funk on me,” Myrna said. Despite the throbbing music that pulsated through the club, neither of us had to raise our voices to be heard by each other. “We’re still gonna get you laid.” She wrapped her arm around my shoulders and gave me a sideways hug. “Maybe you can try…you know.” Myrna’s hazel eyes sparkled in the oscillating colored lights.

“I don’t know,” I sighed. “What if that just makes it all worse.”

“You won’t know if you don’t try,” Myrna pushed. She pulled away from the hug and flipped her tight curls over her shoulder.

“I know.” I hopped off the stool. “I’m gonna have a smoke.”

“Okay, you know where to find me.” Myrna downed the last of her drink and headed for the dance floor.

I slipped through the crowd to the back exit. The bouncer let me out the door, but told me I’d have to come in through the front again. I wouldn’t have a problem with that. Myrna and I had bribed our way past the line and I could easily do that again.

The heavy steel door closed behind me, cutting off the thunderous music. I released a sigh of relief. I pulled out my pack of cigarettes and tapped a stick into my hand. I hadn’t been a smoker before Myrna had dragged me with her on this impromptu vacation, but apparently it was a cool, hip thing to do. You could also duck out of a conversation on the pretense of having a smoke.

I lighted the cigarette and tucked the lighter and pack away in my pocket. I walked to the far wall and leaned back against it. The night air was crisp; the moon shone brightly down on the dark alley.

The sound of footsteps made me glance around. A dark shadow moved down the alleyway toward. The overhanging fire escape obscured my vision of the approaching figure. I took a long drag on my cigarette.

The person stepped forward into the moonlight. He was close to seven feet tall. His face was angled and framed by dark hair. His shoulders were broad and while his muscles could rival a body builder’s, he still looked lean and graceful. He was also ridiculously handsome in an almost too much, can-you-not-with-your-face way. 

“Oh, hello,” I said in a long purr. I pushed off the wall and stepped toward him.

His head tilted to the side slightly. The moonlight caught on his green eyes. His irises glowed; his pupils were slitted.

“Oh, goodbye,” I said as I rotated quickly on my heel.

“Lucian Samirillian?” the shifter asked. 

I sighed. I flicked my cigarette to the ground and stomped it out. I glanced over my shoulder. 

“And who the fuck might you be?” I said.

The shapeshifter reached into his jacket. He pulled a chain out of his shirt and flashed his shifter ID at me, thus confirming for me the unfortunate truth: he was from the Academy. He tucked the ID away and took a step forward.

“I’m here to escort you back to the Academy,” he said as he continued to close the gap between us. He held his hands out to the side; he was trying to look as non-threatening as possible. He’d never be able to manage this considering the fact that his every movement screamed lethality.

I darted forward. He hadn’t expected me to come for him. I drew my arm back and slammed the heel of my hand into his chest. He grunted and stumbled back several steps. I snarled. Typically when I unleashed with most of my strength, I could send a shifter flying a good twenty feet.

The shifter caught his footing easily. He lunged forward, directing a strike at my own chest. I deflected it and leapt backward. He pressed forward and I continued to evade him. He aimed a roundhouse kick at my head; I slid fluidly under the attack.

“Lucian!”

I froze at the sound of Myrna’s distressed voice. The shifter didn’t pause. He spun and his fist slammed into the back of my head. I nosedived into the wall of the alley. A loud crunch announced the shattering of my nose. I groaned as I slumped to dirty alley floor.

“Lucian!” Myrna cried out again. Her voice came from the mouth of the alley. “What the fuck you fucking prick!”

I groaned again and sat up on my knees.

“Are you okay?” The shifter that had assaulted me knelt hurriedly at my side. He laid a hand on my shoulder.

“Fuck off,” I spat, shoving his hand aside. My voice came out thick and nasally due to my crushed nose and the considerable amount of blood dripping from it.

I looked to the mouth of the alley. Two shifters were striding toward us. One of them had a firm hold on Myrna’s elbow and was dragging her along with him. 

“Ah, fuck,” I muttered, shaking my head.

“Callahan,” the female shifter said. “Did you have to smash his face in?”

“That was my mistake,” my assailant admitted as he rose from his crouch.

“Yeah, it fucking was, jackass.” I shoved myself to my feet, and promptly stumbled as wooziness overcame me.

Callahan caught my arm and helped me stay upright. I allowed this because I didn’t want to face-plant in filth again.

“You two have had your fun,” the female shifter continued. 

She was older than her male fellows by a good decade. Her ashen blonde hair was tied back in a high, tight bun. I recognized her as one of the guardian shifters in the Academy’s employ.

“Time to head back to the Academy.”  

* * *

Our means of transportation to return to the Academy was a private jet, which was a lot more luxurious than the first class flight Myrna and I had taken to L.A.. I was splayed out on the plush white leather couch that dominated part of the cabin. My head rested in Myrna’s lap. For the first forty minutes of the flight, she had held a packet of ice to my face. My nose was entirely healed now, but I still held a whole boatload of resentment for the shifter who had put me in that state.

The shifter in question sat in one of the seats across the cabin from us. He had a pair of headphones on and was scrolling idly through his phone. I had glowered at him throughout the flight and he had ignored me the entire time. 

The female guardian emerged from the back of the flight where she had been making herself a mixed drink. Unlike vampires, shifters didn’t get drunk. Their lycanthropic genes denied them of this pleasure. Well, currently I would categorize being tipsy as a pleasure. I could tell a lecture was coming from the guardian as she took a seat on the couch across from us and fixed us with a stern gaze. I felt decidedly like a wayward child as I sat up slowly on the couch. Myrna shifted beside me. She had been a lot more drunk than I had been when we had been escorted onto the flight, but she had been downing glass after glass of water to remedy this fact. 

The guardian, who had introduced herself as Morgan Fell—a name I recognized as belonging to one of the Academy’s most lethal guardians—, swirled her drink idly as she appraised us with cool amber eyes. I noticed Callahan out of the corner of my eye remove his headphones and settle in to watch was no doubt going to be the chewing out of the century. 

“So," Morgan said, “would one of you care to explain to me why two Royal vampires with subpar elemental magic and no shifter bodyguards thought it would be a good idea to leave the safety of the Academy and go traipsing about a human bar?” Morgan quirked one of her perfectly manicured eyebrows.

I glanced at Myrna. She was staring at her clasped together hands. Her cheeks were flushed from the reprimand and the lingering alcohol. She didn’t look like she had any intention of answering.

“Well,” I said, looking back at Morgan, “I don’t know about Myrna, but I wanted to get fucked.” I shrugged and draped my arms over the back of the couch.

“And you couldn’t have just done that at the Academy?” Morgan said. 

“Oh, I could have,” I said with a sagely nod, “and I have, but I wanted the added fun of a club and alcohol.”

“So, your excuse is your libido,” Morgan said.

I shrugged again. I glanced over at Callahan. He was fixing me with a unreadable gaze. I smirked at him. 

“I would have stuck around if I knew he was there.” I nodded at Callahan as my lips drew back in a sneer.

“Lucian,” Morgan snapped loudly.

I jumped and my head whipped around, my eyes widening from the sharpness in her tone. Myrna stiffened beside me. 

“This is serious,” Morgan continued.

I stared at Morgan like a deer in the headlights. I heard a soft huff of laughter issue from Callahan. Well, I was glad someone was enjoying this reprimanding. 

“What if you two had encountered a sanguine? What then?” Morgan rose to her feet and glared down at us. “What would you have done? Seduced it into not killing you and eviscerating you?”

“Do you think that would work?” I whispered to Myrna.

She laughed quietly. Despite my quip, I did take the idea of encountering a sanguine quite seriously. Sanguines were vampires that had fallen into a blood frenzy and had not been put down by a shifter. Eventually, the blood frenzy would mellow out and just leave the sang as a mindless creature wandering through woods or cities, looking for any source of blood. Since they consumed such a sickening amount of blood, they were stronger and faster than regular vampires. They also were a hell of a lot uglier because the excessive blood drinking withered their skin and made them go bald and grow a disgusting number of teeth. All and all they were hella gross and incredibly lethal. 

“This is the third time the pair of you have left campus without permission and without an escort,” Morgan continued. 

“Maybe y’all should invest in better perimeter security,” I pointed out.

“I have been in touch with your family, Myrna,” Morgan plowed on. “Your father has requested your return to Slovakia.”

“What?!” Myrna and I yelled in unison.

“When we land at PDX, you will board a flight to London. Johanna will escort you.”

The third shifter on the plane waved from where he sat in the row behind Callahan.

“Your belongings are being gathered from the Academy and will be sent to Slovakia.”

“Is this a fucking joke?” I snarled.

“No, this is a fucking consequence, Lucian,” Morgan said. 

“Fucking bogus.” I slammed my fist back against the wall of the plane. 

* * *

  **Two Weeks Later**

 

“Lucian.”

I growled low in the back of my throat. Over the course of the last few weeks I had done my utmost to avoid Callahan. I was still decidedly pissed off at him for breaking my face, and having a hand in getting Myrna kicked out of the continent. Okay, that was a bit of a stretch, but still, he was a compounding factor.

“What?” I snapped. 

Callahan stalked slowly across the room. He was menacing to put it gently. I couldn’t imagine a single one of my peers disagreeing with this assessment. His physical appearance alone earned him a terrifying repute in the halls of the Academy. On top of that, he was also something of a legend among shifters at only twenty-three.

“When was the last time you fed?” Callahan asked as he came to a halt a mere pace away from me.

My head swiveled around slowly and I stared up at him. Asking a vampire about their feeding habits was certifiably rude. I had every reason to smack him upside the head for the question. Callahan was perfectly aware of this fact, but he still held his ground with a stony expression on his face. His calculating green eyes flickered over my face.

My eyes narrowed. He couldn’t possibly have figured out the peculiarity surrounding my feeding. I tossed my head and returned my gaze to the window. I didn’t look past the pane of glass at the moonlit grounds surrounding the chapel, instead choosing to watch Callahan’s distorted reflection.

“This morning,” I said.

A familiar scent bombarded my senses. My nostrils flared and my head whipped around. Callahan was staring down at his palm, which he had sliced open with the long, curved claw of his thumb. Metallic orbs of vermilion bubbled up from the wound.

My mind went blank. My mouth watered. Warmth pooled in the back of my throat. A long, quaking gasp left my lips. My skin tingled. 

Callahan tilted his hand. A droplet of blood rolled down his palm. I lunged forward. Callahan intercepted me with ease. He caught my wrist, twisted my arm behind my back, and slammed me down on the carpeted floor. I grunted as my fangs bit painfully into my lower lip. Callahan pinned my arm to my back with his knee and grabbed my messy bun.

“When was the last time you fed?”

“Get off of me,” I hissed as I bucked against him. The scent of his sweet blood still battered my senses. I whimpered loudly, pitifully.

“Lucian,” Callahan said in a low voice.

“This morning,” I mumbled. I went slack beneath him, resting my cheek on the carpet. I glanced up at him out of the corner of my eye. “I just…I threw up after.” A flush spread over my cheeks. Not only was admitting to this incredibly embarrassing, but our position was also rather humiliating; in an arousing way it would seem since I soon realized that I was getting hard.

“When was the last time you kept down a meal?” Callahan asked.

“Um.” I sucked on my lower lip. I didn’t like the intensity of the gaze Callahan was directing at me. “Two summers ago,” I finally admitted.

Callahan’s eyes widened. He blinked several times as he processed this information. Most vampires deprived of a sustaining meal for that long went into a blood frenzy. Rabid with desperation, they would attack anyone and everything in sight. The time between my last full meal and now had been punctuated by small meals that I barely managed to keep down. I had enough blood in my system that I didn’t go off the rails, but apparently not enough to hide this fact from Callahan.

“You have trouble feeding?” Callahan said once he had composed himself.

I snorted quietly. That was one way to put the burning need to projectile vomit whenever human blood passed my lips. It had been Myrna’s hope that I could find a nice guy at the club to bone and drink from. She had thought that perhaps the act of drinking blood during sex would make me feel less inclined to hurl.

“You should have said something.” Callahan’s injured hand tightened into a fist, causing more blood to leak from the wound and me to whimper again.

Shifter blood was potent, tantalizing, delectable, and not usually on the menu for vampires unless they had a collared shifter. I closed my eyes and released a shuddering breath through my nose. It was taking every ounce of my will power to not attack Callahan.

The smell of copper filled my nostrils. My eyes flashed open. Callahan’s open hand hung suspended in front of my face. I stared at the crimson that stained his palm and fingertips. I glanced up in confusion. 

“Would you like it?” Callahan whispered.

A long moan left my mouth. I buried my fangs in my bottom lip, but it was too late; he already heard that humiliating sound. Callahan huffed a small laugh. He shifted so his knees were on the floor on either side of my body. He also released his grip on my hair. 

Callahan nodded.

I lunged. This time he didn’t hinder me. I grabbed his hand in both of mine and pressed my teeth against his palm. Callahan hissed quietly. I moaned into his palm as I slurped the blood from the open wound. My tongue darted out, coaxing more of the liquid from the gash. Callahan’s breath hitched slightly.

I slumped back against his chest as I continued to suck. I was making a whole slew of noises that were utterly embarrassing, but I was so drunk on the blood that I didn’t care. I had never tasted anything so wonderful. Over the years I had built up an aversion to human blood. Even without this aversion, I suspected Callahan’s blood would still taste like the nectar of gods.

“Alright,” Callahan said, placing a hand on the top of my head, “that’s enough.”

I whined and shook my head. 

“Lucian,” Callahan said in sharp voice.

I mewed quietly. The authoritative tone in his voice shot straight to my cock. Callahan’s hand tightened in my hair and he pried the other one from my mouth. I panted as I sagged against his chest. I could feel warm blood smearing my chin. I slid my tongue, elongated from feeding, out of my mouth and lapped up the liquid.

Callahan released my hair. He fished out a roll of gauze from his pocket and wrapped his palm up neatly. I remained slumped against him. My veins thrummed as I felt Callahan’s blood flowing through my system.

“Why?” I asked in a hoarse voice. I twisted my head back and stared up at the shifter.

“If you went into a blood frenzy, it would be a security breach,” Callahan explained. “Despite your results on examinations, a Royal vampire of your status would deal considerable damage in a blood frenzy.”

My mouth twisted into a scowl at the mention of my test results. I had no awe-inspiring control over the elements like most Royal vampires. In fact, I failed most examinations by such a stunning margin that my Royal heritage was often in dispute. 

“I decided dealing with the matter privately would be best,” Callahan continued. “From now on I will escort you to your feedings. You will try to keep down as much as you can. I will act as supplement if you aren’t getting enough in your system.”

I pushed away from Callahan and stared at him in confusion. “Why the fuck would you do that?” I demanded. “You of all people should know how humiliating it is for a shifter to be a blood bag for a vampire. Wasn’t your mother some whore blood bag?” 

Callahan’s eyes flashed. He caught my chin and yanked my face close to him. “This is part of my job,” he said in a cold voice. “Besides, aren’t you the one in the humiliating position right now?” His eyes flickered to my crotch.

I glanced down quickly and flushed when my eyes fell on a distinct bulge. 

“Go fuck yourself, whoreson,” I growled.

Callahan’s face shifted with palpable anger. It took all of his control to keep the roiling bones and muscles in place. His eyes flashed a vibrant green. I flinched away from him, but his hand on my face kept me only inches from him, not an ideal place to be if he went rabid. When his face settled back into place, he released me. He stood up.

“I’ll give you some privacy to take care of that.” He stepped past me and stalked out of the room. 


	2. Chapter Two

My desire to avoid Callahan at all costs was renewed with vigor. Considering how much of his blood I had guzzled, I wouldn’t need to feed for several weeks, so it wouldn’t be necessary for him to ‘escort me to feedings’. That being said, this particular shifter and I had a lot of crossover schedule-wise. He oversaw my grade’s magic classes to ensure none of the hotheads in my class decided to burn the school down; he took his meals in the dinning hall at the same time I did; and he was also one of the supervisors in my self-defense class. 

Vampires didn’t need combat instruction; that was what we had shifters for. That didn’t mean a fellow vampire couldn’t try to get handsy, and learning how to effectively jab someone in the eyes with a beak strike came in handy. While I quite enjoyed these classes, I would coincidentally find myself feeling under the weather during all of self-defense classes for the next week. I had no way out of magic classes, so I’d just have to ostracize myself to the back of the classroom and ignore Callahan as best I could.

I had two reasons for wanting to avoid Callahan. The first was I honestly felt bad about calling his mom names. I had an inadequacy complex and I tended to lash out when people brought up certain inabilities of mine. My strategy for that was make-everyone-else-feel-inferior-so-I-could-feel-superior. There was nothing more inferior than a shifter blood bag. Second to that was the kid of a shifter blood bag. I didn’t even know if the rumors were true about Callahan’s mother, but I had still prodded that sleeping bear—and had gotten a good look at what was in store for me if I ever brought up Callahan’s mother again. Shifters lived and breathed for control. The fact that Callahan had lost it for a second was testament to how much mention of his mother…irked him. I didn’t want to be in the same room as Callahan when he shifted completely. Rumor had it, he didn’t need to shift into his human-beast form to take out a sang. There were three other shifters at the Academy who had that feat to their name. All three of them were full guardians and all over the age of forty.

The second reason for avoiding Callahan was simple: I had gotten a hard-on from drinking his blood. Actually, that wasn’t entirely true; I had started to get hard the second he had pinned me down, but he didn’t need to know that. It wasn’t unusual to get an erection during a feeding. That didn’t mean I was a fan of getting one while splayed across Callahan’s chest and attempting to suck him dry. Add that to the fact that he was cripplingly attractive and I wouldn’t mind hopping into bed with him and suddenly I was stupidly embarrassed to be anywhere near him. 

It wasn’t unusual for vampires to sleep with shifters, but there was always a certain power dynamic involved that I just couldn’t see myself fulfilling with Callahan. Collared shifters were shifters who had pledged themselves sexually to a vampire. They were literally collared to mark that they were owned by certain vampires. Many of my classmates had collared shifters at their disposal, but all of them were younger and weaker than the vampires themselves. Among some shifters it was a point of pride to be collared by powerful vampires. Callahan didn’t strike me as the time to agree with this assessment. On top of that, guardians were never collared, and I knew from the rumors that Callahan wanted to become a full guardian.

This didn’t stop me from fantasizing about him to a perhaps unhealthy extent. Jerking off to the idea of him pinning me down and ordering me around was yet one more thing to add to the ever growing list of things Callahan did not need to know.

I sighed quietly, a sound that distorted into a low growl. I was pissed, to say the least, about the entire situation. I had been getting along just fine without that shifter’s interference. Sure, not having a substantial meal in almost two years would raise a few eyebrows, but I could keep my shit together, and I had been doing just that. I had even cannibalized on myself a number of times—something that was horribly taboo, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. Now that I had fed off of Callahan there was no doubt that I would be craving more in a few weeks. 

The thump of approaching footsteps and the annoying, noxious laughter of my classmates made me glance around. It was currently a break between periods. I tended to keep to myself in the back corner of the classroom. Someone coming over to me meant someone was looking for trouble. 

In this case, trouble manifested in the form of three of my most irritating classmates: Roland Fell, Hugh Meyers, and Nick Deveron. The last was the only one with a hint of Royal in his blood, but all three of them were ridiculously gifted with magic and that put them at the top of the food chain in my grade. I was the only Royal in my grade, and I didn’t do much to earn that title in the eyes of my peer.

Roland came to a halt beside my chair and bent forward. He planted a hand on my desk; the other on the back of my chair, brushing my back. His friends stood behind him leering down at me.

“Can I help you?” I asked. 

“You smell different, Lucian,” Roland drawled. He leaned closer to me and took a long sniff of my hair. 

I stiffened, not just from his closeness, but also from his comment. Feeding on different types of blood meant garnering new aromas. The last thing I needed was word getting around that I had a shifter blood bag on the side. That would lead to questions I didn’t want to answer. 

“New shampoo,” I said dismissively.

“Mm,” Roland hummed. He caught a lock of my hair between his fingers and rubbed. “I like it. It smells…”

“Fuckable,” Hugh supplied with a vicious sneer.

I knocked Roland’s hand aside. “You sure because I could have sworn the scent was _fuck off_.” I put all the weight of my Royal bloodline into those two words. When I turned my head to stare up at Roland, it was with glowing yellow eyes. 

Roland straightened and stepped back on instinct. He collected himself and gritted his teeth. Did he really think that he wouldn’t cave under a Royal stare? I rose to my feet, lowered my chin, and bore my gaze into him. This was the only thing I had to prove my Royal status; my sheer presence as a Royal and one of an old bloodline at that was not open for debate in the slightest. I’d used this same look on teachers before and they had quailed in front of me. I had then of course been politely asked by the head mistress not to do that anymore.

Roland’s lip curled as he endured the pressure of my stare. Finally, he jerked around and marched away, but not before yelling over his shoulder: “I’ll fuck you, Lucian.”

A challenge, but it didn’t carry much weight since he was fleeing. 

Our interaction had caught the attention of the rest of the class. Our teacher was out of the room and since the next class was a history lesson there was no reason for shifters to be present. In other words, there was no supervision to keep me from flying across the room and ripping Roland’s spine out. 

I sighed, turned on my heel, and marched out of the room. Maiming classmates was generally frowned upon even if they had just promised sexual assault. Until he tried anything on me, he would stay intact. 

This didn’t mean I wasn’t ridiculously pissed off right now. The idea that I might actually smell _fuckable_ made me absolutely irate and I blamed one and only one person for this. 

I stormed through the halls of the Academy, catching the attention of many vampires as I passed. I wondered if they could smell my new scent too, and if they categorized it the same as Hugh had.

My fists shook at the thought. I burst out of the academic hall and took off across the quad. Callahan would most likely be training in the gymnasium. Well, he’d better be ready to catch _these_ hands. Actually, it probably wasn’t in my best interest to attack a shifter when he was in a room full of his own kind. Shifters might have been subservient to vampires, but that didn’t mean they would take kindly to one of their own getting attacked.

I reached the gymnasium and yanked open one of the heavy metal doors. I heard the hinges creak in distress. I needed to reign it in before I started destroying school property. I took a deep breath and slowed my pace to a slow trot as I made my way down the hallway.

I reached another set of doors and pushed into the gymnasium. A large, sprawling room lay before me. The floor was covered in mats and shifters were doing their utmost to hurl each other down on this aforementioned padding. They did so with enough force that I wasn’t entirely certain the mats would keep them unharmed.

Since I had gotten myself under control enough to not rip the door off its hinges, I didn’t make much of a scene coming into the gym. A few shifters close to the door did glance in my direction. I ignored them and moved into the gymnasium.

I smelled him before I saw him, which spoke to just how much of an impression his blood had made on me. 

Callahan stood on the far side of the gymnasium. He was leaning against the wall with his arms folded. He was talking to another shifter. The pair were dressed in identical sweats and a white t-shirt, though Callahan had ripped the sleeves off of his. The female shifter beside him didn’t sport biceps that would make it a necessity to damage her academy-issued uniform.

Unlike vampires, shifters didn’t train and study separately based on sex. There weren’t enough of them to split them up this way.

I stomped across the mats, interrupting several spars as I went, but I didn’t care. Perhaps I should have made an effort to make less of a scene than I was. Doing this privately was probably more advisable, but I was too pissed to consider this. Also, I was in too deep by now. 

Callahan glanced over at me when I was ten yards away. His dark green eyes roamed over my body. A slight frown furrowed his thick brows. The girl beside him pushed herself off the wall and slid fluidly into a fighting stance. Don’t worry, sweetheart, I meant no harm.

Callahan, unlike his friend, didn’t look the least bit perturbed by my charge across the room. He didn’t even move as I approached him. I came to a halt a foot away from him and glared up at him.

“We need to talk.” I did my best to not yell these words at him, but I didn’t hold back any of the forcefulness. 

Callahan nodded and pushed away from the wall.

“Hey, Callahan, who’s this?” A jovial male voice drew my attention away from Callahan. The guy who approached us was a head shorter than Callahan, but just as heavily muscled. He had a mop of blond hair and a grin plastered across his face. He reminded me of a golden-retriever; I wondered if that was what he shifted into. He came to a halt by our small gathering and looked me up and down. His nostrils flared slightly and I saw his pupils dilate. A subtle glow grew in their depths.

I took an instinctive step away from him, which put me within touching distance of Callahan, a fact that he confirmed by resting a hand on my elbow.

“A friend,” he said shortly. “Come on.” He patted my elbow and walked away from the pair.

I turned and hurried after him. I had no way of knowing if the blond’s reaction had been to my new aromatic state or the fact that I was a vampire in shifter territory. Vampires didn’t usually make a habit out of busting into the gymnasium while shifter training was underway. 

I followed Callahan out of the gym. He took me into the locker room, through it, and into the bathroom. It was empty. Callahan leaned back against the sink counter and stared down at me.

“What’s up?” he asked. “You look pissed.”

“That’s cause I am,” I snapped.

“Calm down,” Callahan ordered.

I drew back, my eyes widened. A flush covered my cheeks. My mouth snapped shut and glared at the floor. I was trapped between humiliation and exhilaration. Humiliation because I was following his order, and exhilaration because he had ordered me.

Callahan chuckled quietly. I glanced up at him. He took a step toward me. My heart palpitated in my chest. Callahan loomed over me. A cocky smile curled his lips. He pinched my chin between his thumb and forefinger. This was ridiculous; he was just a shifter. I shouldn’t be getting so flustered and I definitely shouldn’t follow his orders. My eyes flashed; I opened my mouth. Callahan yanked me toward him. My hands shot up to catch myself on his chest. His own eyes glowed a soft green. I swallowed the words I had been about to hurl at him.

“What’s up?” Callahan asked. He was grinning down at me now in a predatorily fashion.

“Do I—“ 

Callahan interrupted me with a long growl. He pressed his face against the crook of my neck and inhaled deeply. 

“Don’t,” I whispered with a flinch.

His entire body stiffened. A low growl rumbled in the back of his throat. I didn’t move; sudden movement might make him attack. Time stood still. I could feel his desire rolling off of him in waves. He shifted almost imperceptibly toward me. Power rippled off of him. It took every fiber of his being not to act on whatever primordial instinct raged inside of himself. After what felt like an eternity, he stepped back and straightened. His hand dropped to his side. His face showed no sign of the beast he was more than capable of becoming. His eyes, however, were glowing a deep green.

“You smell different,” he said in a rough voice.

“Yeah,” I murmured. “That’s why.” I gestured lamely around the bathroom. “Do I smell, like, fuckable?” My cheeks flushed a bright red.

“Who said that to you?” Callahan asked. He leaned back against the sink. 

“Some shitheads in my class,” I said. “If I get jumped by a bunch of hormonal vampires, it’s your fault.” I jabbed an accusatory finger at him.

“If you get jumped by a bunch of hormonal shifters, it will also be my fault,” he conceded. “I had no idea drinking from me would make your scent so…palpable.”

“Translate: fuckable,” I muttered under my breath. I sighed, moved back, and leaned against the stall behind me. “You didn’t freak out in the gym.”

“You did smell different,” Callahan said with a shrug, “but there were plenty of other smells in there. Mostly shifter sweat and that’s pretty potent.” His tone was humorous, but his expression remained as stoic as ever. 

An inch away from me with his sole focus on my smell alone and suddenly we had an entirely different story on our hands.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do about this?” I gestured to myself.

“Douse yourself in a good deodorant,” Callahan said with a shrug. He needed to be a whole hell of a lot more concerned than he was. “I’ll walk you back to your dorm.”

“You sure that’s a good idea?” I asked in a low voice. My eyes flickered between the floor and Callahan’s face.

Callahan’s chin rose. He knew what I was getting at and he didn’t appreciate the fact that I was worried he might lose it on me.

“I’ll walk you back to your dorm,” he repeated to a stern voice.

I nodded quickly. We left the bathroom.

“Why don’t you report me to the higher-ups?” I asked. “I’m a security risk, aren’t I?”

“Yes,” Callahan said as he walked past me, “but I can handle you.”

I gritted my teeth. I didn’t much mind the thought of him handling me. I stalked after him, glowering at his back. He led me out of the locker room and down the hall away from the gym. He didn’t want to take me near a pack of shifters doped up on adrenaline. Instead, we left through the back. I picked up my pace a touch so I was walking in front of him. He allowed this. With his stride being about twice mine, he could easily outpace me, but he knew my pride was on the line being led around by a shifter.

Our walk back to the dorms was uneventful since we didn’t encounter anyone. Everyone else was where they were supposed to be, including the staff member on duty at my dorm’s front desk.

The vampire glanced over at us as we walked into the dormitory. His gaze flickered between us. 

“Skipping class again, Lucian?” he said.

“Not feeling well,” I shot back. I looked up at Callahan. “You can go.”

Callahan nodded. He turned around and left the dormitory. I hurried up to my bedroom, which was on the top floor of the dorm, and sequestered myself inside of the small room. Apparently not living in luxury built character for vampires. My dorm room was smaller than the closet my bedchamber at home had been. I didn’t mind it though. It was comfortable.

I went to my dresser and sprayed myself with a face-full of cologne. I had no intention of leaving the dorm for the rest of night, but I might as well get used to myself smelling like a fuckboy.  

* * *

I didn’t go to class for the next two days, which earned me an irritated email from my dean. Apparently my teachers didn’t appreciate not being informed that I would be absent from their classes. My dean promised me academic suspension if I didn’t get my ass to class. Such a mark on my record would be reported to my father, and I didn’t much like the idea of having a little chat with him.

It was for this reason that I found myself slowly brushing my teeth in front of the bathroom mirror at a little after ten p.m.. Class started in an hour, but I rivaled a zombie in the morning and every menial task took me about twice as long. 

“Morning, Lucian.”

I glanced over at the reflection of the vampire who had trudged up to the counter. Whoever had made up those rumors about vampires being invisible in mirrors was an absolute fool. We were too vain a race to allow mirrors not to acknowledge our presence.

The boy beside me had thick blond hair falling in befuddled bedhead around his round face. He was one of my two other floor mates. The attic yielded the only singles in the dormitory and were reserved for Royals. Finny was a first year and probably a distant cousin of mine considering his blond hair and greenish-yellow eyes. 

I nodded to him and looked back at my reflection. I had traded-in my white-blond hair for a muted brown dye-job, a fact that had almost caused an aneurysm in my father. It was bad enough in my view that I had to tote around the Samirillian name, but having the iconic hair was pushing it for me. Luckily, my father couldn’t do more than verbally harass me over the phone.

“Hey, Finny,” I said suddenly around a mouthful of toothpaste. I spat in the sink.

“Yeah,” Finny asked. He stared at my reflection.

“Can I ask you a weird question?” I rinsed my mouth and then turned to face him.

“Sure,” he said with a why-not sort of shrug. 

“Can you smell me?”

Finny’s eyes widened and he flushed to the roots of my hair. He carefully placed his toothbrush and toothpaste on the counter.

“Um, what?” he asked. His eyes darted frantically between his hygiene utensils and me.

“Sniff me.” I stepped forward into his personal space. I wasn’t afraid of Finny losing his shit over my smell. He was smaller than me and worshipped the ground I walked on since I was an upperclassman and a high-ranking Royal.

Finny nodded slowly. He leaned forward and took a cautious sniff. He rocked back on his heels and looked up at me.

“You smell like…” He blushed. “Like you always do,” he mumbled under his breath.

“Cool, thanks.” I ruffled his hair as I passed him and left the bathroom. I had planned on cloaking myself in a protective layer of cologne before living for class, but it would appear that wouldn’t be necessary. Maybe it was only the day after feeding from Callahan that I risked riling up the libido of everyone in a five mile radius.

My sudden liberation from copious cologne did wonders to ease my nerve. I finished my morning routine with uncharacteristic swiftness. Finny’s comment had not only eased my nerves but had also roused me from my zombified state. Not only could I go to class without Roland and his goons trying to fuck me over a table, but I could also be in Callahan’s presence without running the risk that he might lose his cool and also fuck me over a table.

I honestly wouldn’t mind the latter scenario occurring, yet another thing Callahan didn’t need to know.

Despite readying myself more briskly than usual, I left for class with only a few minutes to spare. I wasn’t the only one who was cutting it close for class. In fact, just about everyone in my dorm was spilling out of the building. Roommates argued audibly about keeping lights on when one of them was trying to sleep; friends found each other and expressed their delight of this fact by tackling each other. I found myself wishing I had chosen tardiness over leaving with the masses. 

This wish became a palpable desire when an arm slung over my shoulders. I growled. I didn’t need to look around to know that Roland was the one who had decided to invade my personal space. Seriously, did this guy _want_ to lose an arm? Hugh and Nick were of course right behind him. Roland and I left the dormitory like an unfortunate ameba. I wanted very much to dismember him, but that was generally frowned upon.

“You smell so bland today, Lucian,” Roland complained.

“Switched back to my old shampoo,” I said. “Clearly the other one didn’t have the desired effect.”

“Don’t worry,” Roland purred. He rubbed his face into the crook of my neck. “You’re still plenty fuckable in my eyes.”

“Thank _Jesus_ ,” I said very loudly and very sarcastically. 

Several people looked around and cast me irritated glances for taking the lord’s name in vain. 

“You know, that’s what keeps me up at night,” I continued, “whether or not I’m fuckable in your eyes.”

Roland laughed. His arm slipped off my shoulders and wound it around my waist. Before he could bestow another lewd comment on to me, the sharp wail of an alarm ripped through the quiet night. 


	3. Chapter Three

“Fuck is this about,” Roland grumbled.

Similar sentiments were shared by those around us; others responded more appropriately: with distressed murmurs. The emergency siren wouldn’t go off unless there was a sanguine attack near school grounds.

If we’d been in class, we would have bunkered down there; our dorms, the same thing. Now, however, we had to hightail to our classrooms as quickly as possible, so the teachers could take roll call. 

Approximately four students took this ‘as quickly as possible’ seriously. The rest of us continued to trudge to class, much to the annoyance of the shifters who were now tearing across the campus to get to their appropriate stations.

As I mounted the steps of the gymnasium—my first class was self-defense—I wondered absently where Callahan went during one of these emergencies. Probably to the front lines if rumors of his fighting abilities were anything to go by.

My pondering was interrupted by someone yelling at me to hurry my ass up. I looked up from my mindless perusal of the floor beneath my feet. Eric Holt, shifter, gym teacher, and general pain my ass, didn’t give a singular lone shit about being a rude asshole to vampires, even Royals. I admired him for it and was generally quite amused, but right now, since he was yelling at me, I was decidedly peeved.

I sighed and picked up my pace down the corridor. He stood at the end of it, holding open the door into the gymnasium.

“You’re the last one, Lucian,” Holt snapped. It was a rare shifter who spoke a vampire’s last name, especially a Royal one. Vampires on the other hand had it drilled into them to use titles and last names with those above them on the food chain.

“Cool,” I said dryly. I trudged across the mat-covered floor and tossed myself down on the fringes of my clump of classmates. Normally I would go change into my gym clothes, but normally emergency sirens weren’t blaring. I followed the example of several of my classmates and stuffed my fingers in my ears. _We get it: bad vampires are trying to break through the wards to kill us, but honestly we might die from this racket first._

Holt took a quick roll call before instructing us to stay put while he went to report we were all present. Blessedly, the siren cut off a few moments later. I sighed in relief and looked around the room.

A group of shifters stood by the far wall. Callahan would have normally been among them since he helped with vampire self-defense instruction. I did recognize the blond shifter from the other day who had had an unsettling response to my scent, as well as the red-head shifter Callahan had been with.

I stood up and walked away from my peers. I headed toward the group of shifters. They fell silent as I approached.

“Hey,” I said, nodding to the blond and the red-head.

“You’re Callahan’s friend,” the blond said, looking me up and down.

“Sort of,” I muttered under my breath.

“He was with the scouting party that called in the sangs.” The red-head answered the question I hadn’t even voiced, but why else would I have come over here? 

If he was there when the sangs were found, what was the point of calling it in? Weren’t they gonna be dead in a couple minutes?

“So, what do you guys do during an emergency?” I asked, gesturing to the group of shifters.

The red-head gave me a confused look. 

The blond answered me: “Since we’re just students, we hunker down like the vamps—pires, vampires.” He cleared his throat slightly. “Guardians are sent out into the field.”

“Wait, Callahan’s passed the guardian exam already?” I asked.

“No,” the red-head said with a shake of her head. “He’s in a weird limbo right now. He graduated from an academy in New York, but he hasn’t taken the exam yet.”

“Doesn’t matter if he’s taken the exam yet,” the blond said. “He’s basically a god.”

A few shifters chuckled in dry agreement behind the blond.

“Geez, you really carry a torch for the guy,” the red-head teased. Her fist shot out, aiming for the blond’s crotch, but he quickly dodged back. 

“He’s a fucking beast,” the blond laughed. 

“Luke’s not wrong,” another shifter said, joining in with the blond’s laughter. He flung an arm around Luke’s shoulders. “Callahan could probably take a full guardian in a fight.”

“I wanna see him in a fight with a vamp guardian,” Luke said, a touch of awe in his voice.

Vampire guardians tended to incur such an emotion from others. They were as their title implied: vampires who had trained as guardians and had passed the exams. In most cases vampires were physically weaker than shifters. This didn’t hold true for vampire guardians. In a battle of pure strength, they could take out a shifter. On top of this, they were armed with elemental magic. This made them positively lethal, and why they were the exclusive guardians of the Crowned Family.

“He could last for a bit,” the red-head said, “but even a full guardian would be hard pressed to take a vamp guardian.”

The shifters debated among themselves for some time over Callahan’s odds against a vampire guardian. They seemed to have forgotten my presence entirely. I didn’t mind this; in fact, I preferred it. They were an easy-going bunch when they forgot there was a vampire in the vicinity.

I grew bored with the conversation and wandered off. I went to the far door of the gymnasium and pulled it open. The gymnasium lay within an L-shaped building that hugged one corner of the quad. It was easy to get lost in the maze of hallways that riddled the building. Wandering through them served to be a pleasant time waster. My presence had already been noted in the role call so I didn’t feel bad about skipping out on the rest of Holt’s class. As long as all Royals were accounted for during an emergency, the Academy would be happy.

My meanderings through the building came to a sudden halt. My nostrils pricked. I glanced around. I was in back hallway near the infirmary. Blood was a common scent in this wing, but the blood I scented in particular set my veins on fire. 

A sudden, feral roar ripped through the hallway. Yelling reached my ears. I raced down the hallway and skidded around the corner. My eyes found him immediately. Callahan was a mess, a hot mess. His clothes were ripped and dirt-stained. His right arm bled from a jagged gash above his elbow. 

“Fuck,” Callahan yelled as he slammed a door shut.

The clash of metal rang through the hallway. He had shut the door of one of the containment rooms. Callahan whipped around and paced away from the door. Two shifters flanked the door. They watched Callahan’s pacing with drawn expressions. One of them was a tall woman with sinewy muscles. She wore a low-cut tank top that showed off her cleavage. Her hands were planted on her hips. She tossed her long, dark braid over her shoulder. She was hot in a step-on-me way. She looked to be maybe five years older than Callahan.

The other shifter was a few inches shorter than her. Everything about him was thin and narrow: his face, his lips, his brows, his limbs. He was hot in his own right, but I liked a guy who looked like he could break me in half, not the other way around. 

I recognized the pair as two of the Academy’s top guardians. They were just as battle-wearied as Callahan and sported a few cuts and bruises themselves.

“Cal,” Vanessa said in a low voice, “it’s obvious he’s rabid.”

Callahan hissed as he came to a halt by the wall. He dropped his forehead against the white washed.

“He was bit by a sang,” Lionel added. 

“I could—“ Vanessa began.

“No.” Callahan’s voice was low, rough. I was pretty sure he’d yelled more than once this morning. “My squad; my responsibility.” His shoulders hunched in ever so slightly. He wasn’t a guardian; he had only been at the Academy for a few months. This was probably his first time having a squad on a perimeter scout. 

And one of them had got bit by a sanguine.

Shifters went rabid for several reasons, but not all shifters went rabid for the same reason. All shifters went rabid if they were bit by a sanguine. Well, I shouldn’t say that; one in a million could handle it. The rest went out of their minds as their bodies tried to fight off the potent poison of the sang.

“Hey,” I called as I waltzed down the hallway.

The shifters all spun around in surprise. They had been so caught up in their soap opera, they hadn’t noticed me. I stopped a few paces away from them and glanced between their faces, which had returned to stone-cold.

“What are you doing here, Lucian?” Callahan asked. He had stepped away from the wall and straightened a touch. 

“I was just…wandering.” I waved my hand vaguely. “I already checked in and I got bored.”

“We’re dealing with something right now,” Vanessa said. It was a clear dismissal. 

I ignored her. My eyes remained on Callahan. The wound on his arm was scabbed over, but I could still smell his blood. My nostrils flared slightly and I took a small step forward. 

“I’ll do it,” I said in a low voice. My eyes met Callahan’s with an unblinking stare. I inclined my head toward the door. 

“You mean?” Callahan’s eyes flitted to the door.

“I don’t know him,” I said with a shrug. “It’ll be…easier.” I glanced down at the floor. I hoped Callahan wouldn’t take this as me thinking he was weak.

“This has nothing to do with you, vampire,” Vanessa said in a cold voice. “This is shifter business.”

“Fuck off,” I snapped.

Vanessa opened her mouth to retort, but Callahan held up a hand. He was still in charge of the shifters in the vaguest of senses, which was why Vanessa shut her trap.

“Lucian, I appreciate the offer, but I can handle this,” Callahan said. His eyes moved to the door and lingered on it. His jaw tightened.

“Who outranks whom?” I asked, folding my arms. “A Royal vampire or a shifter? I’m taking charge now, so it’s my responsibility.” I stepped toward the door.

“Lu—“

“I’ve done this before, Callahan,” I said in a low voice.

He met my gaze steadily. His hand remained on my arm for another moment, then he released me. I turned and went to the door. Lionel opened the door for me. 

I stepped inside and he closed it behind me. A muffled snarl drew my eyes to the center of the room. The rabid was chained to the floor by his neck. His wrists were locked behind his back and his ankles were chained down as well. A muzzle concealed his lower face. His yellow eyes watched me intently.

I walked slowly across the room. My footsteps echoed around the chamber. The shifter yanked against his chains as I approached. My nostrils twitched and I glanced at his shoulder; his shirt was tattered and blood leaked from the wound.

I crouched down in front of him and caught his chin. He barked a fierce snarl that the muzzle muted slightly. I tilted his face back. Deranged eyes stared up at me. He was completely gone; there was no chance of bringing him back.

I placed my hands on either side of his face. Another low snarl emanated from the muzzle. I twisted his head to the side. A sharp crack resounded through the room. His eyes rolled back in his skull.

I stood up and walked to the door. I knocked quietly. Callahan opened it for me. He was alone in the hallway now. I stepped out, my eyes remaining on the floor. Callahan closed the door behind me.

“Thank you,” Callahan murmured.

I nodded and walked away.


	4. Chapter Four

Word soon got around that a shifter had gone rabid during the attack. There was the appropriate amount of condolences from the vampires, but they weren’t all that torn up over it. The shifters, on the other hand, were once again reminded that both their mortality and humanity were on the line when they served vampires. 

I had no way of knowing how Callahan was handling matters. He was absent from all his usual haunts, i.e. my classes and the dinning hall. I was too chicken shit to ask Vanessa where he was. We crossed paths a couple times and every time she cut an icy look my direction.

After three days of not seeing hide nor hair of Callahan, I got a hold of his cell number. Acquiring his number proved simple to do since Finny worked in the headmistress’s office and had access to all prevalent files. Finny had had some misgivings about stealing private information, but I promised him a favor and after that he was more than happy to help.

My first text was simple, benign:

_hey_

Callahan replied with typical diplomacy:

_I don’t have your number; who is this?_

_Your daddy_ , I typed as I rolled onto my stomach on my bed. I laughed quietly to myself as sent the message. 

_I’m going to block your number_ , Callahan replied.

**Me**  
_its lucian_

**Callahan  
** _How’d you get my number?_

**Me  
** _i have my ways. how are you_

**Callahan  
** _What do you mean?_

**Me  
** _with the thing the other day how are you doing_

**Callahan  
** _Fine_

**Me  
** _but i haven’t seen you anywhere since then_

**Callahan  
** _Missed me?_

**Me**  
_no fuck off_

I chucked my phone aside and sat up. Here I was trying to be a decent person and there he was snubbing me. My phone buzzed. I picked it up and found a text from Callahan:

_Sorry I just wanted to tease you a bit. I’m doing alright. Thank you for asking._

I replied with a decidedly lame ‘cool’ and tossed my phone aside once more. I had flushed a nice tomato red when he had admitted to wanting to tease me. I decided to sleep for the rest of the night. I curled up, completely submerged beneath my covers, and fell asleep in a matter of seconds.  

* * *

I didn’t have to worry about going to class the next night because it was a Saturday. I ordered take-out from the dinning hall several times over the course of Saturday’s twenty-four hours. I had about eight major assignments due next week, three of which had been due the week before, but I had gotten extensions for them.

The next night was Sunday, which meant church. Church wasn’t _required_ per-say, but not going meant your parental unit receiving a note from your dean. The last thing I needed was my father finding out I skipped out on mass. 

I’d go to church, but that didn’t mean I’d go at the ungodly hour of nine at night. I’d roll in at a reasonable ten p.m., showered and dressed in my Sunday best. This put me an hour late to the service, but I didn’t care. I could stay longer after to contemplate this sin.

I climbed the church steps and stifled a yawn. I pushed open one of the ornate oak doors a crack and slipped inside. I caught the door and closed it almost silently. The two shifters who flanked the door inside of course noted my presence, but I didn’t interrupt the service.

I moved to one of the empty pews in the back and sat down. I propped my feet up on the pew in front of me and settled in to listen to Father Alistair’s service. The pastor was a young, strikingly handsome vampire. His good looks were half of what made mass mildly enjoyable. I was’t the only one who felt this way. He had a whole gaggle of girls drooling after him. I, of course, was above drooling. 

The other half of what made service mildly enjoyable was the fact that Alistair was actually an engaging speaker. He didn’t drone out Bible passages; he told them as stories, almost fantastical in nature, though that would be rather heretical to say. 

The service drew to a close about two hours later. I remained seated as the majority of the congregation filed out of the church. Roland spotted me, but he only cast me a quick grin. Even he wasn’t deplorable enough to come onto me in a church.

I leaned my head back on the pew and stared at the artfully decorated ceiling. The love child of baroque and renaissance architecture, the arching ceiling was breathtakingly beautiful, if a bit extra in all honesty. This church, which had originally been built in Italy, had been painstakingly disassembled, shipped to America, and then reassembled in this swath of Oregon woods because the founder of our Academy had had a raging hard-on for this church specifically and a replicate of it just wouldn’t cut it.

Perhaps thinking the words “raging hard-on” in a holy sanctuary summoned him to my side, but all of sudden Father Alistair was standing by my pew smiling warmly down at me.

“Hello, Lucian,” he said. 

He had somehow managed to extricate himself from the horde of girls who always cornered him after mass. They were slowly making their way out of the chapel, and cast annoyed glances my way as they went as if I had purposefully stolen their eye-candy from them.

“‘Sup,” I said. I scooted over a touch on the pew and Alistair sat down beside me.

“You came late, again,” Alistair said. He folded his hands neatly in his lap.

_God, what I wouldn’t give for those hands to be all over me. Oh, shit. Please ignore that God. World peace. Amen._

“But I came,” I said, and proceeded to turn the shade of a ripe tomato. “And I’m staying late to repent,” I plowed on.

Alistair chuckled quietly and inclined his head. 

“How have you been, Lucian?” Alistair asked. “I hear you’ve been missing some classes.” He pinned me with his empathetic gray eyes. 

“I’m fine,” I mumbled. “Just haven’t felt up for class lately.”

“Are you not feeling well?” Alistair asked. He reached out and lay a cool hand on my forehead.

I stiffened. My gaze went cross-eyed as I stared up at the hand on my forehead. Alistair dropped his hand from my forehead and swiveled in the pew. 

“Can I help you?” he asked smoothly.

I jumped and looked around.

Callahan stood a few feet away from the pew. He was dressed in dark-washed jeans and a long sleeve shirt. The attire didn’t at all surprise me despite his being in a church. Jeans were fancy compared to his usual attire of sweats.

“I need to talk to Lucian,” Callahan said. He jerked his chin toward me, but his eyes remained on Alistair. There was something almost…territorial about the way he said my name.

I swallowed and glanced at Alistair. The priest looked as serene as ever, though his gaze did harden a touch at Callahan’s words. 

“We’ll only be a minute more,” Alistair said. “Right, Lucian?” He placed his hand gently on my knee and his gaze returned to me. His eyes were soft again.

“Um, yeah,” I said, glancing between the priest and the shifter. My eyes remained on Callahan as I said, “Wait for me on the steps?”

Callahan’s jaw tightened. He spun on his heel and left the church. I frowned: the fuck was his deal?

“You two know each other?” Alistair asked. His hand slipped off my knee and he laced his fingers together.

“A bit, yeah,” I said. 

“I didn’t know you were interested in collaring a shifter,” Alistair said.

“Oh, no, no, no,” I said. I waved my hands frantically. “It’s not like that we’re just…” What the fuck were Callahan and I? We weren’t friends though he had said as much the other day in the gymnasium. His offering to be my personal blood donor did not qualify him as my friend in my book. It also didn’t make him my pet, and I was sure he would agree with that.

“Just?” Alistair said, raising a perfectly manicured eyebrow.

“I don’t know,” I said quietly, coiling my fingers together. “We hang out sometimes.” 

“Hang out?” Alistair said with a soft chuckle. “I’m a priest, Lucian, not celibate.”

“We’re not having sex,” I said, too loudly for normally circumstances and certainly too loudly for a church.

“Lucian,” Alistair scolded lightly.

I flushed. “Sorry.”

“As am I,” Alistair said. “I assumed hanging out was a euphemism for something else.”

“He’s…that is—“ I sighed. I couldn’t explain the real relationship Callahan and I had; that would reveal that fact that I couldn’t drink human blood. 

“Are you interested in euphemistically hanging out with him?” Alistair asked.

“I mean, sure, why not,” I said with a dramatic shrug. “I’d happily sit on his face.”

Alistair coughed uncomfortably.

“Sorry,” I said. “Euphemistically hanging out with him would be super neat.”

“Have you considered the implications of a vampire of your status sleeping with an uncollared shifter? If you were to collar him, it would be another matter,” Alistair said.

“Of course I have,” I mumbled. I wasn’t in the least bit overjoyed to be having a conversation about hooking up with Callahan with a a priest who I also very much wanted to sleep with. “But he’d never agree to being collared, and if I slept with a shifter, my father would totally kill me.”

“I’m sure your father wouldn’t commit filicide,” Alistair said.

“You don’t know my father,” I laughed. “One time he cut my fingers off because I took extra desert without permission.”

Alistair stared at me with wide eyes. My mouth dropped open as what I had just said sunk.

“Can you pretend I didn’t tell you that?” I breathed.

Alistair composed his face quickly. “Everything you tell me is confidential, Lucian.”

“Cool,” I said with a sigh of relief. My father’s bizarre disciplinary tactics were strictly need-to-know. “I should go see what Callahan wants.” I stood up.

Alistair rose as well. He was several inches taller than myself. He struck a slender, almost delicate pose in his priest garb. He looked to be the opposite of Callahan strength wise, but I had been graced with seeing him without his robes on and the tight, black priest outfit he wore when he was not at mass did wonders to accentuate his muscles.

“You can always come talk to me about anything, Lucian,” Alistair said, resting a hand on my shoulder. 

“Okay, thanks.”

Alistair smiled before turning and stepping out of the pew. I followed him. He nodded to me. I gave him an awkward wave and headed to the door before I could further embarrass myself in front of him.

The doors were no longer flanked by shifters, which was good because if it had been, they would have heard that entire conversation. Luckily the church was empty now. 

I pushed the doors open and stepped into the dim moonlight. I caught sight of Callahan immediately. He leaned against the stone railing. His arms were folded; his eyes on the expanse of stars that cascaded over head.

“Hey,” I said as I walked down the steps. I stopped on the second to last step. I still wasn’t eye level with him, but the six inch addition of height put me level with his clavicle. “What’s up?”

Callahan glanced over at me. He appraised me silently. I shifted under that penetrating gaze. 

“So, you’d happily sit on my face?” he said, arching single eyebrow.

My mouth fell open. I gaped up at him. Color flooded my cheeks. Callahan chuckled quietly.

“H-how,” I stammered weakly. “Did you hear that _entire_ conversation?” I jabbed my finger back at the church. “That shit was confidential. With a priest!”

“You’re right that I’d never agree to being collared,” Callahan continued.

My teeth gritted together audibly. 

“I stopped listening after that.” Callahan pushed away from the railing and set out down the lamplit pathway. “I just needed to confirm that you didn’t have any misconceptions about our relationship.”

“For the record,” I snapped, striding quickly to catch up with him, “there are _plenty_ of people whose faces I would sit on. You’re not special.”

“Plenty of people?” Callahan said, glancing down at me. “My, aren’t you thirsty.”

“Okay, so there are like two people right now,” I amended, “but still. Not special.”

“I’m one of two; I think that’s pretty special,” Callahan said in a wistful voice as he stared up at the stars. He looked back at me. “Who’s the other?”

“A…person,” I said in a disjointed voice. I didn’t quite like the idea of admitting to having fantasies about a priest.

“That’s good; you haven’t stooped to beastiallity.”

“Isn’t it technically beastiallity with you?” I asked.

“Only if I wasn’t in human form,” Callahan said. Honestly, he could have been talking about the weather. “If I weren’t, you seriously couldn’t take it.”

“Who said I’d be the one taking,” I snapped. 

Callahan stopped and stared down at me for a long moment. I came to a halt as well and glowered up at him.

“You’re joking, right?”

“Fuck off,” I muttered as I set off down the path again.

Callahan laughed as he fell into step beside me. “Is the other guy the priest?” he guessed.

“I’m not saying.”

“That’s a yes then,” Callahan said. 

“Fuck off.” I strode ahead of him, my hands buried deep in my pockets and my shoulders hunched up. 

“Why?” Callahan called after me.

“Why what?” I shot at him as he fell into step beside me. “Why do I want you and the priest to tongue-fuck me?” I was rewarded for my lewd commentary by a soft blush spreading over Callahan’s face. Oddly enough, his jaw tightened ever so slightly and his eyes flashed as if from anger.

“Why did you put down Holland?” he asked.

“Oh,” I said quietly. I looked down at the pine needle-strewn ground. “He was your friend; you shouldn’t have to do that to your friend.” I shrugged.

“So, you were looking out for me?”

“Yeah, I was,” I snapped. “What of it?” I glared up at him. “The euthanasia process is fucked up.”

“My, aren’t you a champion for the shifters,” Callahan said with a bitter chuckle.

“Shifters aren’t the only ones who put down rabids, jackass.”

Callahan stopped. He stared down at me with unblinking eyes.

“What do you mean?” he finally asked.

_I mean my father always keeps eight shifters at a time: six are guardians and two are collared. I put down seven of them over the years starting when I was eight. Either because they had gone rabid or my father had decided to use euthanasia as a form of execution. No judge, no jury. Just his word saying that the shifter had gone rabid. He wanted to be rid of them, but I was the one who actually did the dirty work. That was what I meant._

“Nothing,” I muttered.

“Thanks,” Callahan said. “For what you did, and for texting me. Don’t make a habit out of texting me though.” He wagged an accusing finger at me. “You shouldn’t even have my number.”

"But what if I want to text you," I said with a pout.

Callahan caught my chin between his thumb and forefinger. I gasped and quickly bit the sound off my sinking my teeth into lip. Callahan bent over me.

"Don't," he murmured. The weight of the order was obvious in his voice. 

I swallowed and nodded quickly. Callahan chuckled. He released me and walked away across the quad.

* * *

I woke to a heavy warmth pooling in the back of my throat. I moaned and curled in on myself. My entire body ached. My head was throbbing and a single thought was building up inside of me. I recognized this burning need all too well. It had only been a little over a week since I had fed on Callahan, an embarrassingly short period of time to be getting all worked up. All the same, I needed to feed.

 _Now_.

Feeding off myself in an effort to delude my body into thinking I had actually fed wouldn’t circumnavigate the issue this time. I reached out my hand and scrabbled around on the bedside table for my phone. When I caught hold of it, I yanked it from its charger. I pulled up Callahan’s contact information. I punched the call button with my thumb and dropped the phone onto the mattress beside me.

Callahan answered on the third ring.

“Hello?”

“Can you come to my room?” I whispered between desperate pants.

“Lucian, are you okay?” Callahan asked earnestly.

“No, you giant turd sack,” I groaned. “I’m going to fucking _die_.” I hung up.

Callahan tried to get a hold of me several times. I didn’t answer. Instead, I threw my phone across the room and curled in on myself with my pillow pressed over my head.

Twenty minutes later, the thunderous sound of footsteps ascending the stairs announced Callahan’s arrival. He didn’t even bother knocking; instead choosing to bust into my room. It was a good thing I didn’t lock my door or else I would have needed a new one.

“Lucian.” Callahan hurried to the bed and knelt down beside it. “What’s wrong?” He reached out a hand and placed it gently on my shoulder.

I flinched. I could feel his blood pulsing through the palm of his hand. I began to quiver from head-to-toe. I wanted nothing more than to launch myself at him and bury my teeth in his flesh.

“Can I please drink from you?” I asked in small voice. I pushed the pillow aside and peeked up at him.

Callahan drew back, his eyes wide. I knew my face was a shocking sight. This hungry and the veins around my eyes burst, decorating my skin with red lines. My eyes glowed with need and my fangs protruded more than usual from my gums.

“Shit, yes, yes, you can.” Callahan sat on the bed and quickly pulled his sleeve up.

I shoved myself forward, falling across his lap, and drove my teeth sharply into his skin. Callahan hissed. I mewed an apologetic sound. 

“It’s okay.” Callahan rested his hand on the back of my neck as I began to feed.

I sucked down huge quantities of his blood. The liquid spilled past my lips and dripped down my chin. I hated messy eating, but right now I was too fucking desperate to make this scene look less barbaric.

“Don’t choke yourself,” Callahan said with a small laugh.

I pushed further across his lap. My hipbones pressed against his thighs. As his blood filled my mouth and veins, warmth pooled in the pit of my stomach. I rutted unconsciously against his thigh. Callahan stiffened beneath me. I continued to grind against him. The part of me that wasn’t drunk on bloodlust was screaming at the rest of me to quit dry-humping the shifter. 

The pressure on my groin grew too much; I rolled onto my side. My hip pressed between Callahan’s thighs. Callahan's thick erection pressed against my hip. Shock almost halted my desperate slurping. My eyes widened and a blush blanketed my face to my ears.

Callahan moved me carefully out of his lap. I whimpered in embarrassment around his arm, which he allowed to remain in my mouth. I slumped on the mattress and stared up at him with bright yellow eyes. My head was cradled in the crook of the arm I pressed to my mouth.

Callahan bent over me. His body hovered over mine. His thigh brushed my crotch as he straddled my leg. My jaw unlatched around his arm. 

“Cal?” Blood dripped over my lips as I spoke.

Callahan dropped onto me. His lips pressed against mine. I moaned and rutted up against him. His hands gripped my thin waist and pinned me forcefully against the mattress. He worked his tongue past my fangs. I shuddered and whimpered desperately.

“Shit,” he said, pulling back, “that tastes disgusting.” He ducked forward and pressed his mouth against the side of my neck. 

I groaned and arched off the bed. His teeth scraped against my throat. I pressed my crotch up against his thigh.

“Cal, Cal,” I panted. I rutted my hips, desperate to get the message across.

Callahan’s hand slid between my legs. He caught my aching hard-on through my pants and squeezed. I cried out _loudly_. I slammed my hands over my mouth. Callahan laughed as he sat back. He quickly undid my pants and pushed them down around my knees.

I whimpered in embarrassment as my hard cock arched over my stomach. A drop of precome smeared my stomach. Callahan bent over me and scraped his teeth over my nipple through my shirt. At the same time, he fisted my shaft. I mewed loudly and squirmed on the bed.

The sharp sound of zipper coming undone filled the air. I glanced down and watched as Callahan drew his own cock from his pants. I whined at the sight. It was as thick as my wrist and arced up to his navel. My cock twitched desperately in Callahan’s hot hand. 

He dropped his hips against mine, pressing our lengths together. I groaned loudly. His hand caught our lengths and rubbed them together. His tongue played over my nipple. I dropped my hands to either side of my head.

“Callahan,” I panted desperately. “I’m sorry, I’m still—“ A shuddering moan cut me off as Callahan thumbed the head of my cock.

“Still thirsty?” he asked with a chuckle. He nipped at the hardened nub of my nipple.

“Y-yes,” I panted as I thrust into his hand.

“What’s the magic word?” he asked as he lifted his arm over my face.

My vision swam as I stared up as his forearm. Blood stained his skin. A droplet rolled off his arm and splattered on my cheek. I moaned and arched off the bed.

“Please, please, please,” I chanted. “Oh, god, please.” 

“Good boy.” Callahan pressed his arm against my mouth.

My fangs buried into the warm flesh. Callahan continued to jerk us off as I drank desperately from his arm. I was practically sobbing with pleasure. My hips jerked and shivered. Heat boiled through my veins.

A sharp twist of Callahan’s wrist and I was coming over his hand. I cried out around his arm and bit down hard. Callahan came a moment later, splattering come over my chest and his hand.

I slumped into the mattress. My eyelids fluttered. My head was spinning and I could barely string two thoughts together. Callahan carefully detached my teeth from his arm. He climbed carefully off the bed. I curled on my side and my eyes drifted shut. Between the orgasm and the blood frenzy I was absolute spent.

As I drifted in and out of sleep, Callahan busied himself cleaning us up. He fetched a wet cloth from the bathroom and cleaned off my chest. Then he saw to his arm. When he was finished, he bent over me and carefully placed his hand on my shoulder.

“You okay now?” he asked in a low voice.

“Yeah, sorry,” I mumbled.

“Call me anytime.” Callahan squeezed my shoulder and left.


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for the comments so far!! i get so excited when i get kudos on original works so to get comments?!??! it's mind blowing!! i'm so glad people are enjoying this so far. 
> 
> cw: non-con elements

I lounged in an armchair with my sole focus being the red solo cup in my hand. If Myrna had been here, I might have actually enjoyed the dorm party to some extent. As it was, I was that friendless loser in the corner getting drunk by himself. Myrna and had finally managed to Skype to the other night. This was a relief since I had more than a little bit to talk to her about. That being said, I didn't get to woe is me quite as much as I would have liked to over my situation with Callahan. As Myrna had pointed out, there were worst things that could be happening to me than hooking up with a hot shifter. She did express concern regarding what was clearly becoming a dependency for me on Callahan's blood. 

A week had passed since I had drunk Callahan’s blood, so I wasn’t at risk of smelling fuckable around my drunk peers. I had also gone this entire week avoiding the hell out of Callahan. I really had no idea where hooking up with him put us. It hadn’t just been a friendly romp in the sheets as far as I was concerned. He had kissed me _and_ let me drink from him as I got off. That came dangerously close to collared-shifter territory in my mind. 

I glanced around the dorm room. It was packed with vampires, male and female, as well as shifters. When one of the guys in my dorm threw a party, he would invite everything with a pulse to the shindig. These sort of throw-downs were designed with the sole purpose of getting as many people possible as drunk as possible.

I sighed and took a long sip of my gag-worthy mix drink. I was entirely onboard with this plan. Getting stupidly drunk would keep me from thinking about Callahan. 

“Hey, Lucian.”

I looked up at the sound of my name. Finny stood in front of me with a grin on his face. He clutched a red solo cup between his hands. I inclined my own drink at him by way of greeting.

“Having fun?” Finny asked.

“Not really,” I said. I brought my cup to my lips and downed the rest of the concoction before hucking the empty cup over my shoulder. 

“Wanna go up to my room to get away from all this?” Finny waved at the miasma of bodies that surrounded us.

“Definitely,” I said, shoving myself to my feet. I stumbled forward. 

Finny dropped his drink to catch hold of my arms.

“Shit, sorry,” I mumbled.

“That’s okay,” he laughed.

I slipped out of his grip and led the way out of the dorm room. I had to look cool and collected in front of the first year, not like I was an absolute light-weight, which I was. 

I executed a valiant attempt at surmounting the stairs, but Finny had to hold me up during parts of the journey. When we reached his room, we were both giggling like morons.  I fell onto the couch with a loud groan. Finny laughed as he flicked on the lamp next to the couch.

“The world has stopped spinning,” I reported as I rolled onto my back. 

“That’s good.” Finny gave a small smile. He climbed slowly onto the couch above me and hovered over me.

“Hey, there,” I said in slow confusion. I cocked my head to the side.

“You remember that favor you owe me?” Finny asked as he bent forward.

“Um, yes.”

“I want to have sex with you,” Finny breathed in my ear.

A bubble of awkward laughter built up in my throat.

“Okay, but I like to be on top when I top, so—“ I patted Finny’s leg to urge him off of me so we could trade positions.

“No, I wanna fuck you,” Finny murmured. One of his hands gripped my shoulder. The other slipped between my legs and he pressed the heel of his hand down.

My hips bucked into the heat of his hand. I gritted my teeth and forced them back onto the couch.

“F-fuck, Finny,” I moaned. I shook my head emphatically. “No, I don’t—“

“You owe me,” Finny murmured. He nipped lightly at my neck, causing a long shiver to roll down my spin. The hand on my shoulder slipped to my chest and he rubbed my nipple through my shirt.

“Yeah, but not this, Finny. C-come on, man,” I stuttered as I pushed against his hips. 

“You let the shifter fuck you,” Finny said. As he spoke he unbuttoned my jeans and worked the zipper down.

“How—what—no! We didn’t! We just—“ I broke off with a loud moan as Finny gently bit my nipple. “F-Finny.”

“You’re hard,” Finny said. He had worked his hand beneath my pants and briefs. His fingers coiled around my cock.

“That’s not consent.” The alcohol in my system was slowing everything to a crawl, including my thought process. Because of this, my protestations were slow and confused.

“Come on, Lucian,” Finny said. He run his tongue over my hardened nub.

My back arched and I moaned loudly.

“Fuck, you’re dripping,” Finny murmured. He rubbed his hand over my hardened cock, smearing precome down the length.

“Finny, seriously, stop,” I panted.

Finny pushed his hand between my legs. His finger prodded my hole. I shook my head urgently. My hands gripped his hips. Finny pushed his finger inside of me. I groaned loudly. 

“Just lie back and let yourself get fucked like you did for the shifter,” Finny breathed. His words ghosted over my neck. 

Suddenly, fangs buried in my throat. My eyes flew open. No. No, not my blood. Anything but my blood. I wrenched my mind from its drunken stupor. I shoved Finny away from me. His teeth ripped across my neck. 

“You fucker!” I yelled. I grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him toward me. My forehead met his face halfway and a vicious crunch resounded through the dimly lit room. I threw him off the couch and surged to my feet. 

Finny gaped up at me. A thin trail of my blood dripped over his chin.

“If you ever breath a word of this, I’ll kill you,” I whispered. 

Finny quaked under the intensity of the threat as well as my gaze. I bent down and quickly lapped the blood from his chin.

“This is mine,” I whispered.

* * *

Having Finny jump me and try to fuck me and drink my blood served to put a damper on the rest of my day. After ripping his flatscreen off the wall and hurling it out the window, I marched to my room and slammed the door shut, hard enough to shake the entire house. I locked it, for once, and took to cleaning myself up.

Getting bit by another vampire was not a delightful experience. Not only had Finny been seconds from slurping down my precious life blood with all the power of my heritage that came with it, but he had also left a jagged wound across my neck. Vampire bodies didn’t heal bites from their own kind all that well. 

I cleaned up the wound to the best to my ability, slapped a bandage on it, and wrapped my neck in gauze. I then proceeded to throw myself into bed to sleep off the drunkenness that had left me vulnerable to Finny’s advances. My hard-on had gone down, which was a small blessing. Relieving myself of a boner I had received under duress didn’t rank high on my list of fun late night activities.

I woke with a splitting headache and even more furious than I had been the night before. Being half-drunk had probably suppressed most of my anger, but now I was about ready to drive Finny’s head through a wall.

It was a touch after midnight so anyone who hadn’t been in a drunken stupor had already made their way out into the world. Because of this, I found my floor blessedly empty. If I had seen Finny in the bathroom, I probably would have tried to kill him. There would have been no witnesses; no one could hear him scream.

I dressed in skinny jeans and a baggy sweater with a turtle neck. Luckily I didn’t look like a fool in a turtle neck or else covering the bandaging around my neck would have been a job for a scarf and I didn’t like scarves, or have them because I didn’t like them so then I’d be forced to never leave my room again.

As it was, I was safe to exit. I left the dorm and headed across the quad toward the dining hall. The moon was close to full and as such, bathed the quad in a liquid silver glow.

I reached the dining hall and mounted the shallow steps. The door swung open as I approached and a pair of girls exited, chatting animatedly with each other. They fell silent when they caught sight of me and cast me furtive glances as I passed them. As the door swung shut behind me, I heard them break out in fervent whispers.

Well, that was weird. I wasn't generally the subject of school gossip since I kept to myself mostly. The most I was known for was running away from school every now and then with Myrna, but that had happened about a month ago. 

I entered the dining hall. It was a massive, opulent space that boasted ebony columns carved with intricate designs. It was also full of vampires and shifters alike. We all took our meals together and Saturday brunches especially were a certified event at the Academy. My eyes instinctively flickered toward the shifters' side of the dinning hall. 

Callahan was sitting with a group of shifters, including Vanessa, the grumpy shifter from the day I had put down Holland. Callahan was laughing and joking along with what the shifter beside him had said. I quickly pulled my gaze away. 

I crossed between the rows of tables, heading for the serving area that lay in the room parallel to the dining hall. As I moved, I left hushed conversations in my wake. I tried to ignore it, but I had the unsettling feeling that everyone was staring at me.

“Hey, Lucian,” some vampire I didn’t recognize slurred at me. He leaned back in his chair and grabbed my ass as I passed.

I froze and stared down at him. My eyes flickered between his hand, which continued to cup my ass, and his face. His friends laughed raucously at his assault on my person.

“I hear you’ve been putting out for a certain shifter. How do you feel about sharing with a real man?”

I snarled as I knocked his hand aside. 

“Who's putting out for who?” I snapped. I hoped the heated flush of my cheeks would come off as anger.

“Don’t play coy,” the vampire said. “We all know you’re bottoming for that uncollared shifter.”

“And who the fuck said that I was?” I breathed in a low voice. My eyes became awash with a strong yellow glow. 

“Finny,” the vampire murmured. He shifted back in his chair. His friends kept their heads down to avoid looking at me.

“Mother fucker,” I whispered. My eyes flashed around the room. They latched onto him almost immediately

Finny was laughing with some other first years, who glanced in my direction every once and a while. The injury I had given him from my headbutt had healed over night. That was about to change. My gaze met Finny’s as he looked my way. His laughter cut off. A low growl roiled in the back of my throat. I stormed across the dinning hall. I had half a mind to make a beeline for him by mounting the tables in the way. Instead, I stuck to the floor. This dragged out my approach and Finny was noticeably shaken when I finally came within a pace of him.

“Lucian,” he said in a slightly wavering voice, “I already told you I’m not interested in you.” He flashed a grin at his friends. "Did I tell you guys? He ripped the flatscreen off my wall and threw it out the window when I rejected him?"

His friends burst out laughing.

"What a fucking bitch," one of them said between chuckles. 

I didn’t bother with pleasantries. I grabbed Finny by the back of his shirt and hurled him out of his chair. He flew the short distance to the neighboring table and slammed into the back of an occupied chair. I was on him in a second. I pinned him to the ground beneath me. He shouted in confusion. The sound cut off as I buried my fist in his face. He grunted from the impact. I felt his nose crunch beneath my fist. 

"That counted as a word," I snarled down at him. "Now you're fucking dead." I drew my fist back and slammed it down again.

The vampires at the surrounding tables burst to their feet and swarmed around us. Cheers and malicious yells filled the air. No one was bothering to help Finny. He desperately needed it. 

An arm snaked around my own. A hand pinned against my back and I was pulled bodily into the air. I snarled as my assailant deposited me on my feet and pushed me away from Finny. I spun around and started forward, but Vanessa planted herself between me and Finny.

“Alright that’s enough now.” Vanessa stood in front of me with her fists on her hips. Her icy blue eyes glowed as she met my gaze.

I held up my hands in a surrounding fashion. A harsh laugh fell from my lips. 

“I’m done.”

“Oh, I know you're done,” she said. “Let’s take a lap, hot stuff.” She moved past me and I fell into step beside her.

The crowd parted as the shifter and I moved through it. My fist was throbbing in pain by now and I had to fight the urge to cradle it defensively to my chest. I had to look cool, calm, and unaffected by the fact that I had just beat the living shit out of the guy who had spread rumors about me getting fucked by a shifter.

My gaze flickered over the passing faces of the vampires. I caught sight of the guy who had grabbed my ass. He no longer regarded me with a lustful gaze. A fearful flinch flickered over his face when our eyes met and he looked away from me hurriedly. 

Vanessa and I soon reached the door through which I had entered only moments before. A flicker of approaching movement drew my attention to the side. Callahan took a step forward. The group of shifters he had been dinning with stood behind him. His face was expressionless, but the glow in his eyes simmered dangerously. Wolf whistles and cat calls filled the air. Vanessa held up her hand. Callahan stopped, gritting his teeth. 

“I’ll handle this.” Vanessa’s voice was almost inaudible to me and I was standing beside her, but Callahan nodded slowly nonetheless.

Vanessa and I left the dinning hall. I had half a mind to make my way back to my room, but as soon as we were beyond the line of sight of the dinning hall’s patrons, Vanessa grabbed my elbow and steered me into the men’s bathroom. She released me and turned to the door. She shut it and kicked the door stop under it.

“How’s your hand?” she asked, turning back to me.

“Fine,” I muttered. I went to the sink and held my hand beneath the faucet. I flicked on the water and hissed as a deluge of water bombarded my tattered knuckles.

Vanessa moved behind me. She appraised me in the mirror. I kept my gaze on the pink-stained water that swirled down the drain.

“You’re bleeding.”

“No shi—“ I began, but Vanessa’s slender fingers tapped the side of my neck.

I flinched and hedged away from her. She continued to watch me in the mirror. I tentatively pulled the turtleneck away form my neck. I groaned quietly. The bandages that swathed my neck were indeed stained with blood. The wound had closed over the night, but it must have reopened during my assault on Finny.

“Did that kid you beat up do that?” Vanessa asked. 

I ignored her, which was answer enough. I pulled the sweater off and tossed it on the counter. Carefully, I unwound the bandages from my neck. I folded them carefully in paper towel and put them in my pocket. I'd burn them when I got back to my room. I didn't need my blood lingering around somewhere to cock things up.

“Can you?” I asked. I turned to Vanessa and indicated my various bloody injuries..

The shifter nodded. She pulled out a pack of bandages and set them on the counter. She then began to carefully dry my hand. She followed this with cleaning the jagged teethmarks on my neck. 

“Did you file an assault?” she asked quietly as she finally set in on bandaging my hand. The wounds on my knuckles would heal within the hour, but she knew I wouldn’t want to spend that time dripping blood all over the place.

“No,” I said with a shake of my head.

“He’ll file one against you for today,” she pointed out as she finished tying over the bandage around my hand.

“No, he won’t,” I said. “It’ll reflect badly on his family and his dad’ll get pissed at him. His dad works for mine.” 

Assault filings were a bogus system as far as I was concerned. A low-ranking vampire would never file one against a higher-ranking vampire, which left the system being yet another way for high-ranking vampires to abuse low-ranking ones.

Vanessa opened her mouth, but a sudden bang on the door silenced her. The person at the door banged on it again. Vanessa sighed.

“It’s Callahan,” she said.

I snatched my sweater and yanked it over my head. When I had concealed the wound on my neck and had nodded my consent, Vanessa went to the door and kicked the door stop out of the way.

“I told you I’d handle this,” she said as Callahan shoved into the room.

“What the fuck was that about?” Callahan snapped at me. He completely ignored the other shifter in favor of storming across the bathroom and looming over me.

Vanessa sighed quietly and pushed the door stop back in place. She leaned against the wall and watched us with icy blue eyes.

“None of your business; vamp stuff,” I shot back. I folded my arms and glowered up at him. 

“Oh? So it’s none of my business that I purportedly fucked you,” Callahan yelled down at me.

I flushed a vibrant shade of pink. My eyes darted away from his and my chin subconsciously tucked against my chest.

“It—there was more to it than that,” I murmured.

“Care to explain.” Callahan’s hand flashed out and caught my chin. He yanked my face around.

I stumbled forward with a small gasps. My hands flew up to catch myself against his chest. I stared up at him with wide eyes. Vanessa stepped away from the wall, but she didn’t move beyond that. Her eyes flickered between us. She was duty-bound to protect vampires, but she probably wasn’t overly stoked about taking on Callahan if worst came to worst.

“It’s, it’s just that I knew Finny had heard us—“ I flushed as my gaze flew over Callahan’s shoulder to Vanessa— “so I told him not to tell anyone, but, but he did.” I didn’t look Callahan in the eye, instead choosing to stare fixedly at the sink.

Callahan bent forward. His breath brushed my jawline as his face drew close to the crook of my neck. He inhaled deeply. I flinched, my shoulders hunching protectively.

“Did he do that to you?” Callahan murmured.

I remained quiet, hoping to sink into the ground.

“Answer me,” Callahan whispered in my ear.

“Yes, he did,” I breathed.

Callahan’s grip tightened on my chin. I whimpered slightly. I could feel his gaze boring into me. I didn’t have the guts to meet what I knew would be an alpha-shifter gaze. There was a reason Callahan was such a notably powerful shifter and I could feel that reason pressing down on me. I didn't know how I hadn't realized it before now, but Callahan was most definitely an alpha. Alphas weren't that rare. Statistically there were more beta shifters than either alphas or omegas. Alphas were stronger, more powerful than other shifters. They could certainly give vampire guardians a run for their money. No wonder Luke had been so interested in seeing a showdown between Callahan and a vampire guardian. 

Callahan’s fingers slipped off my chin and he cupped my face in my hands. I released a small sigh as I felt his overbearing alpha presence wane slightly.

“What else?” he asked. His voice was tight with barely suppressed anger.

“We, we just—“ I looked up at him at last. 

His gaze was just as brutally intense as I had felt it to be. The muscles in his jaw twitched and spasmed. His ears had taken on a slightly pointed nature. He was so pissed he had lost an iota of control.

“We hooked up,” I whispered, “but it went too far.” If I told him I had not consented in the slightest, he would tear Finny limb from limb.

“You hooked up,” Callahan repeated. He stepped back and his hand dropped to his side. A strange expression flickered over his face. It was visible for only a moment and resembled something like betrayal. He huffed a quiet, bitter laugh.

“It’s not a big deal,” I mumbled.

Callahan growled low in the back of his throat. I stiffened. He spun on his heel and stalked to the door. He kicked the door stop aside and wrenched open the door. I watched the door swing shut slowly behind him.

“Is that why you aren’t going to file an assault charge?” Vanessa asked. She tilted her head to the side and arched a manicure brow. “Because you two were hooking up and things went to far?” She moved to the counter and picked up the bandages.

I slipped my sweater off. Keeping my eyes averted, I moved toward her.

“Or was it not consensual at all and you didn’t want to upset Callahan?” Vanessa continued in a low voice as she set to work bandaging my neck.

I nodded slowly.

“At least now he won’t kill a vamp for marking you.” Vanessa’s fingers were hot as they lightly brushed my neck.

“You're welcome,” I muttered.

“You know, he’s putting his career as a guardian on the line by hanging around you,” Vanessa said as she tied off the bandage. A steely note had entered his voice. “He wants to be a guardian and, collared or not, a vamp-used shifter wouldn’t make for an appealing guardian. After he's a guardian, feel free to let him fuck your brains out. That won't mess up his reputation.”

But it sure would fuck up mine, getting fucked by an uncollared shifter.

"Callahan's a big boy," I said with a sneer. "He can make his own choices."

"And if his choice is to not let you collar him?" Vanessa asked. She raised her eyebrows and her eyes glowed slightly.

Shifters didn't exactly have to consent to being collared by a vampire. Even if Callahan said he didn't want it, I could still do it if I felt like it. I'd seen my father do that plenty of times.

"You don’t have to go all mama wolf on me. I don’t want to collar him.” I shoved past her and left the bathroom. I was fuming at this point. Luckily not to the point I had been in the dinning hall or else the first living being I saw would have received a fist in the face. 

I stormed out of the building and made my way across the moonlit quad. The dormitory wasn’t an option for refuge. There were too many vampires there. Finny would be in the infirmary getting a face transplant so I didn’t have to worry about him, but I didn’t much like the idea of crossing paths with anyone really.

Because of this, I headed for the chapel to find sanctuary in the attic, where I could find some peace and quiet to figure out what my next move with Callahan would be.


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've been super busy with graduation stuff and armor building for a future cosplay i'm doing so i haven't had time to write. this chapter was a bit hard to write too because i was out of the writing groove i'd been in before. i hope people like it!  
> also i did a little cosplay of what lucian looks like: https://68.media.tumblr.com/45d4b6ca639c9f5e7f0044c9e61ac801/tumblr_oqc6fgGjGQ1sfbu0eo1_540.jpg i had it posted to my insta before my i deleted bc i'm super ocd about my layout lol also i honestly can't remember if i talked about lu's hair color lmao i remembered writing that he dyed his hair brown but i don't remember if that got posted in one of these chapters and i'm too lazy to go back and see xD his natural hair his super blond and it's really long
> 
> tumblr: toxzen  
> insta: kitsvnebi  
> ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/A006GYB

It had been my hope to make my way into the church’s attic without encountering Alistair. Typically when I snuck up into the attic, I did so without bumping into him. This time, however, I did just that quite literally. 

I pulled open the church door and promptly smacked into the priest, who had been moments from leaving the church. 

“Shit, sorry.” I stepped back and looked up at Alistair.

“That’s quite alright,” Alistair said with a smile as he straightened the crucifix around his neck. He gazed down at me. “Did you need something Lucian?” He stepped back and gestured for me to enter the church.

I did so, letting the heavy oak door shut behind me.

“Oh, no,” I said with a shake of my head, “I just wanted to, like, hang out here.” I gestured around vaguely. My hand fell to my side and my gaze dropped to the ground. I was still pissed off at Callahan, but the anger was slowly turning to a sullen despondence. 

“Is something the matter, Lucian?” Alistair asked.

“Yeah,” I mumbled. I shrugged. “It’s not a big deal.”

Alistair reached out and caught my bandaged hand. He drew it toward himself and gazed down at my knuckles.

“Did you get into a fight with someone?”

I nodded. 

“Would you like to talk about it?” Alistair guided me over to one of pews.

We settled onto the velvet cushions side by side.

“Not really,” I grumbled. I propped my feet up on the pew in front of me and slipped my hands between my knees. I glowered down at my boots. 

Callahan had a lot of fucking nerve getting pissed off in this situation. Sure, it wasn’t great for his career as a guardian to be involved with a Royal vampire, but the rumors _specifically_ said that he had topped me. _Me_ , a Royal vampire. This whole situation was a lot worse for my reputation than it was for his.

A soft brush of fingers on the side of my neck made me jump. I jerked around and stared up at Alistair. He was frowning down at my neck.

“Did someone bite you?” he murmured quietly.

I flushed scarlet and ducked my head.

“It’s not a big deal,” I mumbled. I hunched my shoulders and buried my chin in the soft wool of the turtleneck. 

Alistair’s warm hand rested on my shoulder. The weight was comforting, protective.

“I mean, I’ve been bit before, so it’s not a big deal,” I said with a shake of my head. “Shit happens, you know? And yeah it really sucks ‘cause it was someone I trust and he was, like, forcing himself on me, but that’s happened before too. What really sucks is Callahan found out. He was so pissed, but he was pissed because we’d hooked up and then he thought I’d hooked up with someone else and let them mark me. And, like, yeah, I didn’t tell him the truth because I didn’t want him to get in trouble, so it’s not his fault he got pissed for the wrong reasons. But now we’re basically in a fight and I’m too mad at him to go explain everything. And on top of that everyone at the school thinks we had sex and if that rumor doesn’t die soon, my father’s going to hear about it and he’s totally going to freak out and God knows what he’s going to do, and ugh—“ I groaned loudly and sunk down in the pew. “Everything’s just being a lot right now.” I sighed quietly and pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes. I hadn’t meant to have a little tirade in front of Alistair, but it had all just come out in a jumbled mess. Maybe his secret priest power was to get people to talk about things they’d rather not talk about. There was that and the fact that sometimes I had little rants like this every once in a while. Usually they were with Myrna because she was my only friend, but she wasn’t around anymore so the priest got the brunt of the tirade.

Alistair and I sat in silence for a while. I could feel his calming gaze on me. He was probably processing everything I had divulged, and giving me time to process the fact that I had just blabbed all my problems to him.

“Would you like to talk more about anything?” he asked finally.

“No.” I released a small sigh. “I feel a bit better now actually.” Ranting about things would often release some of the anxieties I felt, and it had done just that this time. “I’m probably keeping you from something anyway.”

Alistair shook his head. “Anything I had planned can be put on hold for you.”

I blushed and ducked my head quickly. A pleased little smile spread over my lips. 

“It’s cool,” I said with a shrug. “I’m good now. I just wanna hang out by myself if that’s okay.”

“The church is all yours.” Alistair smiled at me and patted my hand. “Don’t forget; you can always come to me even if it’s just to rant.” With another smile and an inclination of his head, Alistair left the church.

I hadn’t been lying when I said I was feeling better after ranting to the priest. I still went up to the attic to relax. It would be nice to be somewhere no one really knew about—except Callahan; he knew about the attic. But I seriously doubted he would come by to say hi. 

* * *

Almost an entire month passed and neither Callahan nor I would yield in our stubbornness. We crossed paths because of the similarities in our schedule, but we barely spared the other a glance. Our icy dispositions toward each other quelled the rumors that we were sleeping together. The fact that the damage I had dealt to Finny’s face took almost two weeks to heal was also reason for people to keep their mouthes shut about my extracurriculars.

I could have outlasted Callahan in this little standoff; I could have outlasted him easily. If it hadn’t been for one small problem: I needed him. He was probably all too aware of the fact that he had me hooked on his blood. I attempted feeding on humans every other day in an effort to ensure I wouldn’t need Callahan’s blood. This usually ended with me hunched over a toilet hacking up what little blood I managed to get down. At one point, I even puked in the middle of feeding. I had been forced to swallow the mouthful vomit and blood before running out of the room and making my way to the nearest bathroom. 

My aversion for blood had begun almost five years ago, but it hadn’t been until two years ago that I had started to grow physically ill from drinking human blood. It wouldn’t take a psychoanalyst to figure out why I was so disgusted by the taste of human blood. The reason was self-evident, and rooted in my deep-seeded daddy issues.

I also took to drinking my own blood on the rare occasion. I fed from my forearm, and made certain to bind the wounds carefully afterward. I couldn’t heal my own bite marks all that well. I even had a few faint scars on my arm from where I had fed. This was enough to fake my body into thinking I had drunk blood, and damn good blood at that.

Because of this, by the end of the month I wasn’t burning with thirst for Callahan’s blood. The one problem was that this would definitely be my fate. Callahan knew this; he knew he had me at a complete advantage here. I couldn’t go to another shifter and beg them for their blood. That would be too fucking embarrassing. I could go through the rigmarole to collar a shifter, which would ensure that I’d have a steady blood supply, but I had long since vowed that I would never collar one.

This left me with Callahan as my only option. Of course, I could push myself to the limit of blood frenzy and see what he would do about it. After all, he had been the one who had deemed me a security risk in the first place, which was why he had given me his blood.

The one drawback to this plan was the fact that if I went into a full blood frenzy, I would kill everyone in the school. There was no love lost between me and most of my vampire classmates, but I’d feel bad about killing shifters.

It was this long, arduous thought process, which had taken place over the course of three whole days, that brought me to the small cottage on the edge of campus that served as the guardians’ humble abode. Shifters that were in attendance at the Academy lived in the dormitory, whereas instructors and guardians such as Callahan and Vanessa lived in what had once been the ground’s keeper home. The privacy this lent to the scene was perfect for what was going to be a hissy fit of epic proportions. I would never try to claim myself as being a mature, put-together adult, and the only way I had worked up the courage to come out here to face Callahan was to rev myself up into a small fury.

I stalked to the front door of the cottage and pounded loudly on the red-painted wood. My aggressive announcement of my presence was soon answered by Lionel, one of the shifters who had been with Callahan when I had put down Holland.

“Can I help you?” Lionel asked with a derisive sneer. He folded his arms and raised his dark brows.

I darted past him and into the entry way. 

“Where is he?” I asked of nothing and no one in particular. I gazed around the open foyer as if expecting to Callahan to pop up from behind one of the fake plants.

The hallway stood perpendicular to the entrance. A library stood at the end of the hall to the right. To my left I could see a kitchen and living room. A stair case hugged the wall and led up to the second floor. There was a homey, friendly vibe to the old English decor of the visible rooms. Honestly it was an adorable abode and I would have much preferred it to the dormitory.

“Callahan?” Lionel guessed. “He’s indisposed."

“He’s indisposed” I mocked as I stomped to the staircase. My best guess was that Callahan was in his own room upstairs.

“Lucian,” Lionel said with a heavy sigh as he hurried after me, “you can’t just invite yourself in like this.”

I ignored him in favor of mounting the stairs two at a time and in a rather ungraceful manner stumbled out into the second floor hallway. Several doors lay off of the hall, and I guessed they were the shifters’ bedrooms. “Which—” 

“Keep me updated, okay Cal?”

My head snapped around at the sound of Vanessa’s voice. She was backing out of a room at the end of the hall. I hurried down the hall toward her. The shifter looked around at the sound of my approach. 

“Lucian, what are you doing here?” she demanded as she slammed Callahan’s door shut.

“I need to speak with him,” I shot back.

“You can’t.” Vanessa yanked out a ring of keys and jammed one into the lock of Callahan’s door. 

“Yes, I can,” I said at her, decidedly peeved at her ornery behavior. I grabbed at her and tried to wrestle her hold off the door knob. “And why the fuck are you locking him in his room? That’s creepy.”

“You seriously can’t go in there,” Vanessa grunted as she grabbed my arm and tried to shove me away.

“Let go of me.” I writhed in her hold and yanked on her own arm.

“You grabbed me first.”

“Why are you locking Callahan’s room?” Lionel’s low, hesitant voice sounded from the top of the stairwell.

Vanessa and I looked around. Lionel stared at Vanessa with wide eyes. Confusion and a touch of panic spread over his face. 

I yanked myself free of Vanessa and shoved her aside. She stumbled back with a swear. I grabbed the key ring from the lock. I pulled open the door and ducked inside. I quickly snapped the bolt in place.

“Lucian!” Vanessa shrieked. The door shook as she threw herself against it. “Open the door right now!” 

“Why are you freaking out?” I muttered. I turned around to inspect my surroundings.

The room I found myself in was annoyingly more spacious than my dorm room. To my left stood a door that had better not lead to a private bathroom because that would be too damn unfair. A desk, a bookshelf, a dresser, and a bed occupied the space. In the center of the room with his back to me stood Callahan. I stared at his back with a frown. He was standing unnaturally still. His shoulders were hunched up slightly and his hands hung loosely at his side.

“Cal?” I asked hesitantly.

Callahan turned around. I gasped and stumbled back against the door. His eyes were glowing a fervent green. His face was flushed; his teeth set on edge. 

“Oh fuck,” I whispered. I spun around and fumbled for the bolt. “Vanessa!”

“Fuck, Lu, get out of there!” Vanessa yelled back at me as she hammered on the door.

A sudden force slammed into my back. I gasped as Callahan’s hand pinned me to the door by the back of my neck, tangling in my hair. The key ring slipped from my fingers with a clatter. I whimpered as Callahan’s fingers dug into my neck. He yanked me back from the door and dragged across the room.

“Callahan! Let me go!” I struggled in his grasp.

Callahan threw me on the bed. I scrambled away from him on the mattress, but he caught me by my ankle and yanked me toward him. He flipped me onto my back. His hands slammed down on my shoulders, drawing another whimper from me.

My heart clamored desperately in my chest as I stared up at the shifter. His eyes were completely overcome by a green glow. His lips were twisted back from his sharp canines. His breathing came in quick, almost frantic gasps.

“Cal—“

Callhan’s lips slammed over mine.

* * *

“Fuck,” Vanessa hissed as she heard Lucian’s desperate cries to be released. Her forehead dropped against the door.

“Ness, what the _fuck_!” Lionel yelled as he ran down the hall to the other guardian. “Why were you locking Cal in his room?”

“He’s having a heat, Lionel,” Vanessa snapped. Her head snapped around and she glared up at the other shifter.

Lionel’s eyes widened. His gaze flickered to the door through which Lucian had vanished. Vanessa groaned. She turned around and slid down to the floor. She dropped her head against her knees.

“Fuck,” Lionel whispered as he dragged a hand over his face. “How did this happen?”

“I don’t know,” Vanessa said with a shake of her head. “I think he was just overrun by emotion between Holland and the fight with Lucian. This would have been fine if—“ She sighed loudly and dropped her head back against the door.

“If Lucian hadn’t showed up,” Lionel supplied. “What the Hell are we going to do?”

“There’s nothing we _can_ do,” Vanessa said. “Unless you want to break the door down and pry Lucian out of Callahan’s hands.”

Lionel winced at the thought. Doing something along those lines would only result in enraging the in-heat shifter. Callahan would go berserk and attack Lionel and Vanessa for trying to take away the warm body he’d decided to mate with.

“We’re fucked,” Lionel sighed.

“No, pretty sure Lucian’s the one who’s fucked.”

* * *

I gasped desperately for air when Callahan pulled back from the kiss. It honestly could barely be called that since he had essentially just smooshed his face against mine. He had also cut my lower lip up rather brutally with his teeth.

“Cal, stop,” I whispered.

Callahan ignored my plea. He ripped open the front of my shirt and ducked over me. I yelped loudly as his teeth scraped over my nipple. His hands fumbled with my belt. I slammed my hands against Callahan’s shoulders and tried to shove him off of me.

Callahan snarled. He jerked back and grabbed my wrists. His face was twisted in an annoyed scowl. I whined quietly and shifted under the gaze. My lower half couldn’t help but get excited over this situation. Callahan pinned my arms above my head with one hand. The other returned to my belt as he took to nipping and sucking at my neck. He undid my belt and pants and slipped his hand beneath my briefs. 

I moaned loudly and arched off the bed as Callahan’s hand wrapped around my cock. He began to jerk me off steadily. I whimpered and thrust into his grip. Callahan continued to work my cock as he brought his mouth back to my nipple. His grip on my wrists tightened. I gasped in pain as his sharp nails, which bordered on claws at this point, dug into my skin.

Fuck. He was in a full blown heat for whatever reason and he was going to fuck me into his mattress right here and right now unless I did something. Callahan would absolutely abhor himself when he came back to his senses and realized what he’d done. That being said, I didn’t exactly have a boatload of options at my disposal to get him to stop. On a good day it was unknown if I could overwhelm Callahan with my Royal stare since he was an alpha shifter, and this was most certainly not a good day. In a heat, he’d demolish me if I tried to have a stare-off with him. 

Callahan continued with his ministrations, which were honestly making it rather difficult to think. I bit my bloodied lip to keep my mind from the pleasure that was building in the pit of my stomach. Vanessa and Lionel would most certainly assume Callahan had fucked me. There was no way they couldn’t. An alpha in heat could and would fuck anyone he wanted to. I couldn’t possibly overwhelm him unless...

I squeezed my eyes shut at the thought. I had one option at my disposal, one that would utterly humiliate Callahan both if he found out I’d done it and if his fellow guardians found out, but I wasn't particularly thrilled about the thought of having sex with Callahan when he wasn't in his right mind. Any other time? Hell yeah.

I opened my eyes and steeled myself. I bit down hard on my tongue. Blood gushed into my mouth. My eyes rolled back in pain and whined loudly through my nose. 

Callahan looked up me. His thumb gently stroked the head of my cock. He had heard the pain in my tone. He leaned forward and gently kissed along my jawline. I huffed through my nose at the soothing gesture and flushed. His hand released my arms and he cupped my face.

I caught his shoulder and pushed him back. Callahan snarled at the man-handling. I slammed are lips together. Callahan pushed into the kiss. I shoved off the mattress and rolled us over. Callhan’s hands dropped to my hips and pulled me down against him. 

When I felt his tongue press against my lips, I opened my mouth, spilling my blood into his mouth. He grunt and choked. His body convulsed beneath me. My grip tightened in his hair. He clawed at my back and tried to buck me off of him. 

I jerked back from the kiss.

“Enough,” I hissed.

Callahan froze beneath me.

“Sleep,” I murmured as I bore my harsh yellow gaze into him.

Callahan’s eyelids fluttered. His hands slipped off my back and fell to the mattress. His eyes drifted shut and his body went slack.

I sighed and rolled off him onto the mattress. I winced as my torn up back met the bed. I rolled over again and lay on my stomach. Slowly, I turned my head to the side and stared at Callahan. His ears had returned to human proportions and his face had softened. 

The ritual of sharing blood from a vampire to a shifter was not even remotely common. For starters it took a vampire with very powerful blood to be able to control a shifter this way. On top of that, there weren't many shifters willing to guzzle vampire blood. If a shifter did have a vampire’s blood in him and that blood was powerful enough, he could be easily controlled by the vampire. I could have told Callahan to streak across campus and he would have done it. The effects of the blood bond would wear off in a few days, but for those few days, Callahan was essentially my slave. 

I pushed off the mattress and winced as pain shot up my back. Blood dripped down my back and stained my pants. I crawled slowly over to Callahan and grabbed his arms. I dragged him to the head of the bed and settled him on the pillows. 

I clambered off the bed and moved quietly to the door by the entrance. I paused and listened carefully, but I couldn’t hear any breathing beyond the door. Lionel and Vanessa probably hadn’t wanted to stick around to listen to Callahan and I fuck.

I opened the other door and peeked inside. I found a private bathroom. I limped inside and flicked on the light. I moved to the shower and turned on the water. I stripped gingerly out of my clothes and curled up on the floor beneath the cascade of hot water. The wounds on my back stung as water ran over them. I closed my eyes and finally allowed myself to fully come to terms with what had almost just happened.

A small sob shook my body. I squeezed my eyes shut and curled into a tighter ball. I knew it wasn’t Callahan’s fault that he had gone into a heat; it wasn’t his fault he had attacked me. If I hadn’t managed to get him under control, it wouldn’t have been his fault if we’d then had sex. That didn’t mean the thought of having sex with someone partly against my will didn’t terrify me. I said partly because I totally wanted to bang Callahan; there was no question about that. But I’d rather it be on our terms and not because it was his time of the month. After a shifter’s teen years, when heats came sporadically, heats started to come every month, often sinking with the full moon. Shifters often learned how to suppress their heats so they would only crop up every once in a while, not monthly. Because of this they weren't a huge hinderance to every day life. Sometimes, however, shifters would suppress their heats too much and then be overcome by one due to emotional stress. Callahan struck me as the type of fellow who would try to prevent himself from ever going into a heat.

I sighed quietly and sat up. I could tell from the fact that my back and lip were completely healed that I had been lying on the floor for a stupid amount of time.

I rose to my feet and turned off the shower. I grabbed a towel and dried off as I moved back into the bedroom. I looked over to the bed. Callahan was still fast asleep on the pillows. He had rolled onto his side with his back to me.

I went to the dresser and fished out one of Callahan’s shirts. I pulled it on. His scent enveloped me. I fisted the fabric and resisted the urge to shove it against my face and snuff it. It was bad enough that Callahan’s scent cloaked the entire room. If I completely lost myself in it, I would probably start to crave his blood, and I didn’t want to feed on him when he was unconscious, or at all for the next few days. All the same, I could feel a slight tickle in the back of my throat. 

I climbed into Callahan’s bed. I couldn’t exactly waltz out of the room because 1) I only had one of Callahan’s shirts on and 2) I had to keep up the ruse that Callahan was using me to get his heat out of his system. Once he woke up, I’d leave it up to him to decide whether or not he wanted the guardians to know I had overpowered him. 

I pulled the blankets out from under the shifter and draped them over us. There wasn’t much room on the bed, so the most space I could get between us was a few inches. I lay on my back and stared up at the ceiling. The morning’s warm glow was bathing the ceiling with a soft yellow. I growled and clambered out of bed. 

Once I had drawn the curtains, plunging the room in semi-darkness, I climbed back into bed and closed my eyes. I couldn’t find relief in sleep right away. I was plagued insistently by a certain quandary: did I tell Callahan that I had bonded with him—though it was just for a few short days—or did I let him believe we’d slept together while he was in a heat? Neither option appealed to me in the slightest. I didn't want word getting out to anyone that my blood was powerful enough to bind a shifter. I also didn't want Callahan to know he was basically my slave for the next few days. That would be so embarrassing for the proud shifter even if I didn't exploit the bond. On the other hand, I had to take into account what Callahan would want.  I was certain he’d rather know that we hadn't had sex while he was in a heat.

I shook my head and forced my mind clear of thoughts so I could fall to sleep.


	7. Chapter Seven

Callahan woke with a throbbing pain in his head and a strange taste in the back of his mouth. As he slowly drifted back to consciousness, he became aware that someone was coiled around him. 

Callahan hurriedly blinked his eyes open. He sat up slightly and stared down at the sleeping form curled by his side. Tousled brown locks concealed the sleeper’s face, but Callahan could easily recognize Lucian’s scent.

Lucian’s legs were tangled possessively around his own and the Royal had an arm tossed over his chest. Callahan felt distinctly like a body pillow as he stared down at the sleeping vampire. 

His head was still aching painfully which made it difficult to collect his thoughts. He slipped carefully out from under Lucian and climbed out of bed. There was a palpable panic building in his throat as he stared down at Lucian. Callahan had absolutely no recollection of Lucian finding his way into his bed. The last thing he could remember was Vanessa asking him to keep her updated on his…

_Oh God._

Callahan blanched and pressed a hand to his mouth. His heat. He had gone into a heat and now Lucian was in his bed. It wasn’t too difficult to put two and two together.

Lucian mewed quietly in his sleep and rolled over onto his back. The sheets tangled around his long legs. Callahan flushed slightly as he realized the vampire had on one of his shirts. His eyes flickered over Lucian’s form. There wouldn't be any sign whether or not Callahan had hurt him; Lucian would have healed by now. He'd only have to hurt he hadn't done the vampire too much harm.

“Fuck,” Callahan whispered. He quickly draped one of the blankets that had been pushed to the foot of the bed over Lucian’s body, covering him to his chin.

Callahan grabbed fresh clothes from his dresser and hurried into the bathroom. A long, hot shower would help ease the anxiety welling up in his chest. The shifter stripped off his clothes and stepped into the shower. He flicked on the water and released a heavy sigh as the cool water cascaded over his body. Steadily, the water grew warmer until it was finally borderline scalding. 

Drawing in slow breaths, Callahan turned his mind to the elephant in the room—or rather the vampire in the other room. There was no doubt that he had slept with Lucian while he was in his heat. He couldn’t name a possible alternate outcome. Even a Royal vampire would be hard-pressed to overpower an alpha shifter in heat. On top of that, there was no sign of a struggle in the room. If they had fought, then Lucian might have stood a chance against him, but that hadn’t happened, so had Lucian _let_ Callahan have sex with him? The thought that the vampire had consented to his advances in a sense helped to alleviate some of the guilt, but that didn’t mean the emotion wasn’t still gnawing a hole in his heart. 

Why had Lucian even been in the shifters’ cottage? He and Callahan had been in the midst of a stubborn stalemate. Perhaps Lucian had come to throw in the towel. He needed Callahan more than the shifter needed him. At least, that would be Lucian’s reckoning. It had been almost a month since their fight, which put Lucian in danger of needing to feed. He must have found a way to satiate his thirst for the time being since he hadn’t called Callahan in desperation like he had the other time. 

Callahan flushed at the thought of his encounter with the hungry vampire. He hadn’t meant for things to go in _that_ direction, but it was no surprise that they had all things considered: a ridiculously hot vampire had been drying humping his leg after all, no one could blame him for hooking up with Lucian.

So he and Lucian had hooked up. That was no big deal. They were on the same page where collaring was concerned. Callahan had not expected the vampire to turn around and hook up with someone else shortly thereafter. He shouldn’t have been surprised that Lucian had gone off with another guy. After all, his first encounter with the vampire had been outside a human club and Lucian had been more than ready to get frisky with Callahan before he had realized that Callahan was a shifter from the Academy. The Royal had also openly discussed having sex with humans on the flight back to the Academy. Pegging Lucian a slut wasn't far from a reach, and rumors at the school did just that. All the same, Callahan had thought that his hook up with Lucian had been different somehow. For Christ's sake, Lucian had drunk his blood and then they’d made out and _then_ Lucian had drunk his blood while he came!

Then Lucian had gone off with another guy, and let himself be bitten for that matter. Even now a shiver of anger ran down Callahan’s spine as he thought of Lucian getting marked by a vampire. 

Callahan shut off the water and stepped out of the shower. Nothing good would come of getting upset over what had happened a month ago. Besides, he had much more pressing matters to address right now.

After getting dressed, Callahan left his room and headed down to the kitchen. Hopefully he would find Vanessa there. She would be able to explain how Lucian had found his way into Callahan’s room. Hopefully none of the other guardians knew he had gone into heat, which he had then consummated with a vampire.

He was in luck in that only Vanessa and Lionel were in the kitchen. They had been in the midst of quiet conversation when Callahan stepped into the kitchen. They fell silent at the sight of them.

“Hey,” Vanessa said. Her lips twisted together nervously.

Callahan moved to the table where the pair were seated and took a chair beside Lionel. Lionel busied himself with buttering a slab of toast as Vanessa and Callahan eyed each other.

“Why is Lucian in my room?” Callahan finally asked. He couldn’t foist all the blame on Vanessa for what had happened, but when a shifter went into heat it was the responsibility of other shifters to keep them, and everyone else around them, safe. 

“He came over yesterday,” Vanessa said in a low voice. “I was locking your room when he got upstairs.”

“I would have restrained him if I’d known,” Lionel murmured in a low voice. He took a small nibble of his toast.

“He busted into your room and locked the door,” Vanessa continued. “We didn’t—we just—” Vanessa sighed and shrugged. “We couldn’t do anything or you might have…”

Callahan nodded slowly. If he had gotten his hands on Lucian in a heat, and then Vanessa and Lionel had tried to take Lucian from him, he would have gotten very, very angry. And an irrationally angry alpha in heat could accidentally kill someone. 

“How is Lucian?” Vanessa asked.

“Asleep,” Callahan said. 

“The other guardians know that you were in a heat, which is why Morgan’s squad switched patrol shifts with us this evening,” Lionel said. “But we didn’t mention Lucian.”

“Thanks,” Callahan said. Things would get messy if it got out that he and Lucian had been together during a heat. It wasn’t unusual for a vampire to help a shifter through their heat, but that was typically between collared shifters and their vampires. On top of that Lucian and Callahan hadn’t exactly been on good terms prior to his heat. Even though his actions were out of his control during a heat, he would still be blamed for any harm brought to the vampire. Callahan was more than willing to shoulder that blame. Heat or no heat there was no excuse for taking someone without consent. 

* * *

When I woke, I was alone in the bed. I sat up swiftly and stared around the room. There was no sign of Callahan and my pricked ears couldn’t detect him in the bathroom. I sighed and drew my knees up to my chest. Part of me wanted to escape while he was somewhere else in the cottage, but I couldn’t leave until I sorted everything out with him. I wondered where he had gotten off to. Maybe he was avoiding what would one-hundred percent be an awkward conversation. I didn’t blame him. I certainly didn’t want to talk about what had happened. Importance of discussing the Finny incident paled in comparison to this. All the same, it would have been nice to wake up to find him here.

The sound of the door opened jerked my head up from my knees. My eyes rooted on Callahan’s face. He didn’t meet my gaze and his face was unreadable as he closed the door behind himself.

“Where were you?” I blushed at the distinct whine in my tone.

“I got you breakfast,” Callahan said in a low voice.

I glanced down and found that he carried a tray laden with food: pancakes, orange juice, and a bowl of strawberries. The latter made smile happily. Callahan moved across the room. He placed the tray on the mattress beside me before taking a seat at the foot of the bed.

“How are you feeling?” he asked. His voice was still quiet and he still hadn’t looked at me. He folded his hands in his lap and stared down at his interlaced fingers. 

“Fine,” I murmured. I picked up a strawberry and took a small bite of it.

“Are you hurt at all?”

“No.” 

Callahan nodded slowly. A minute of palpably awkward silence fell between us. Finally, Callahan turned to face me. His eyes rose to my face.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “You should never have been put in that situation and I take full responsible.”

“I-it’s okay,” I said as a blush crept over my face. It was my turn to avoid his gaze. 

“I understand if you want to file an assault charge against me,” Callahan continued. “Vanessa has said that she will also take part of the responsibility since she should have stopped you. We—“

“Cal,” I interjected. “No one needs to take responsibility for anything.”

“But—”

“We didn’t have sex.” I brought my eyes up to his. “I got you to stop before it went that far.”

“How..?” Callahan’s brows furrowed in confusion. “How did you do that?”

“I—that is we, um.” I covered my face with my hands and released a grating sigh. “I am _so_ sorry.”

“For what? Lucian, what happened? I won't be offended if a Royal order from you overpowered me.”

“But that's not what happened,” I snapped. “I forced a blood bond on you.” I felt the mattress shift as Callahan rose to his feet. I looked up slowly.

His eyes were wide as he stared down at me. His face twisted with emotion: confusion, panic, and a touch of anger. I flinched as I saw the latter tighten his jaw and twist his lips.

“I am so sorry,” I whispered. “I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t even know if I should tell you. I know blood bonds are so, so much worse than collaring and you would never agreed to one and I am so sorry I forced you to make one, but I didn’t know what else to do. It’ll only last a few days and I promise I won’t make you do anything; we, we don’t have to see each other for that time. And I won’t tell anyone!” My voice was growing louder as I spoke and a note of distinct panic entered my tone. “You don’t have tell Vanessa or Lionel. I’m fine with them thinking we slept together. I know it’ll fuck things up with becoming a guardian if this gets out and—"

“Lu,” Callahan said in a gentle voice. He returned to his place on the mattress. “It’s okay. I prefer this to the alternative.”

“You’re not angry at me?” I asked quietly.

“No." Callahan shook his head. "I'm not happy that we have a blood bond, but it will wear off. The anger and blood bond.” He allowed a small smile. "Just don’t make me do anything stupid, like naked handstands or something.” 

“I won’t make you do anything I promise!” I cried out. I launched myself forward and grabbed his shoulders. Callahan’s hands flashed out and he instinctively caught my hips. “I promise.”

“Careful, you’ll knock over your breakfast,” Callahan said. 

I glanced over my shoulder. The orange juice had sloshed out its glass onto the tray, but I hadn’t done anymore damage than that. Callahan withdrew his hands.

“Thank you, Lucian,” he said. “For your promises.”

I nodded as I sat back on my heels. My eyes fell to the blanket between us. 

“I’ll explain to Vanessa and Lionel that we didn’t—that nothing happened,” Callahan continued. “I’d rather keep the blood bond between us. It wouldn’t surprise them that a Samirilian could overpower an alpha in heat.”

I nodded again. 

Another bout of awkward silence fell between us. I took to run my fingers through my hair to untangle the long locks.

“Are you, like, mad at all right now?” I asked.

“No.” Callahan glanced over at me. “I’m not mad at you.”

“I mean, like, in general,” I said. “Are you feeling particularly grumpy or irrational?”

“No,” Callahan said slowly. He frowned at me. “What are you getting at?”

“Ah, well, you remember that fight we had?” I asked. “About Finny.”

“The guy whose face you fucked up?”

“Yeah,” I said with a dry laugh, “him.” I was glad Callahan hadn’t gone for the other descriptor for Finny: the guy who had bit me. “I didn’t tell you in the bathroom cause, like, you were kinda mad,” I continued.

"What didn't you tell me?" Callahan asked.

I took a deep breath and gushed: “I didn’t want to hook up with Finny. I owed him a favor ‘cause he got me your phone number but he wanted to have sex with me and he wanted to top and I totally didn’t want to do that and he just kept coming on to me and then he bit me and I freaked and head butted him and chucked his TV out the window. I didn’t tell you that I didn’t want to hook up with him ‘cause you were so mad, but now you’re not mad so I figured I’d, like, let you know.” My cheeks were a vibrant pink by now. I slowly lifted my eyes to meet Callahan’s. “So…yeah…that’s why I came over. To explain that. Also because I know I’ll need your blood. But I won’t drink any of it until the blood bond wears off of course!” If I drank Callahan’s blood now, it would cement the blood bond, which was something neither of us wanted.

“So,” Callahan said slowly, “Finny forced himself on you and you lied about it so I wouldn’t do something that would get me in trouble.”

“I'm sorry I lied to you," I murmured.

“Don't be,” Callahan said with a shake of his. “I'm grateful you did." He rubbed the back of his neck. “You’ve done so much for my sake. You’re not as self-absorbed as you seem.”

“I am not self-absorbed,” I scoffed, tossing my hair over my shoulder.

Callahan laughed quietly and I cracked a smile. 

“Are we good?” I asked. 

“We’re good,” Callahan said with a nod. “Sorry I got so mad at you in the bathroom.”

“It’s cool.” I shrugged. 

“Now finish your breakfast,” he said. “Pancakes are a rare treat in the shifter cottage. Usually we’re all too lazy to make anything other than a bowl of cereal for breakfast.”

"You help me," I said. "I don't have a big appetite in the morning."

Callahan chuckled quietly and helped himself to the food. I hoarded the strawberries for myself but let him have as much of the pancakes as he wanted. He was probably ravenous after his heat. Shifters were pretty ravenous in general, but a heat would make them especially so.

After a few minutes of silent eating, a light knock sounded on the door. Callahan glanced at the door then at me. 

“It’s Vanessa,” he said.

“She can come in,” I said with a shrug.

Callahan nodded and called for the shifter to enter.

Vanessa opened the door and stepped into the room. She cast me a quick glance. I smiled at her and gave her a small wave.

“Hey,” she said. “How are you doing?” Her voice was stilted.

“We didn’t have sex,” Callahan and I said simultaneously.

“Oh thank God,” Vanessa said with a heavy sigh of relief. Her forehead crinkle. “Wait, how?”

“I’m a Royal and a Samirilian at that,” I said loftily.

Callahan rolled his eyes.

“Right,” Vanessa said slowly. Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly as she appraised me. She probably wasn't too thrilled to hear that there was Royal vampire with the ability to overpower a heat-ridden alpha. Little did she know it wasn't my Royal stare she had to worry about, but my blood. And boy was my blood worrisome.

“Was there something else, Ness?” Callahan asked.

Vanessa nodded. “Apparently the head mistress wants to speak with Lucian, but no one can find him anywhere. Holden’s in charge of hunting him down and I think he’s gonna freak out soon.” She gave a wolfish grin.

“Shit,” Callahan muttered.

“Ooh, ooh can I stay here? I wanna see this Holden guy lose it.” I laughed and popped the last strawberry into my mouth.

“Fuck no,” Callahan said. “Get dressed and get your ass over to the head mistress.”

“Ugh, do I have to? She’s probably just gonna yell at me about fucking up Finny’s face. My class dean already did that.”

“Lucian,” Callahan said sternly.

“Besides,” I whined, “you ripped my shirt. What am I supposed to wear? Your shirt?”

“And why not?” Callahan said. “The head mistress won’t know any better. Put your pants on and get going.”

“I can’t believe you’re kicking me out after we slept together,” I said sorrowfully.

“Lucian, pants. Now.”

“Alright, alright,” I mumbled. I tried to ignore the fact that I was blushing lightly. Hopefully neither shifter noticed. Vanessa was leaning against the wall watching us with bemusement in our eyes.

“We’ll talk more later,” Callahan said. 

I nodded.

“I can take him to the head mistress,” Vanessa said. “I’ll say he was just out for a walk.”

After I got dressed, Vanessa and I left the cottage. Vanessa voiced how relieved she was Callahan hadn't hurt me at. Her usual stoic face even cracked a touch to reveal how distraught that thought made her. She really did feel responsible for me ending up in that room. I mumbled a small apology for not listening to her and she seemed grateful for that. 

When we arrived at the head mistress's office in the administration building, which was on the other side of campus, I was ushered inside immediately. When we had gotten through formalities and I had apologized begrudgingly for being MIA for so long, she finally got around to why I had been summons. She hadn't wished to see me to discuss the state of Finny's face. Instead, she informed me that I, along with several other notable vampires all of whom had been debriefed prior to me because they had reported promptly to her office, would be attending a fancy party this weekend. There was nothing distressing about this news since I for one loved fancy parties. 

"Sounds fun," I said, running my fingers through my hair.

"It should be," she said tersely, "but you might want to do something about the state of your hair."

"Why's that?" I cocked my head.

"Your father will be in attendance."


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is up to 128 pages on word :0

Of course my father would be at the function. This wasn’t a school field trip; it was a bougie soirée hosted by Lord Adrian Hemsworth. The Hemsworths weren’t Royal, so it would be impertinent of Adrian to invite the patriarch of the Samirilians, but my uncle's younger brother would be an honored guest. 

The head mistress wasn’t wrong when she said I’d need to fix my hair. The trademark white-blond hair of the Samirilians was a symbol of our finely honed ancestry. My father would sooner I be bald than not tout that hair color at a noble function.

Because of this, I spent the remainder of the week trying to strip my hair down to white. I and the other vampires invited to the Adrain’s affair were excused from class on Friday, but I opted not to attend on Thursday either. I had a bit of a headache from forming the blood bond with Callahan. My veins were throbbing with the desire to consummate the bond to its fruition, but I wouldn’t be drinking Callahan’s blood until every last drop of my own was out of his system.

Speaking of the shifter, I had put in a request with Vanessa to make him my bodyguard for the weekend. While I loved dressing up for fancy parties, the actual events were painfully boring. Teasing Callahan would have been a welcome reprieve from pretentious conversing.

“You’ll get all cutesy and flirty with him if he’s your bodyguard,” Vanessa had pointed out.

“I've never been cutesy and flirty with him,” I had whined.

“Your father probably won’t appreciate you doting on an uncollared shifter.”

Vanessa’s observation of what my father would and wouldn’t appreciate was spot on. She did offer her own services as my bodyguard, which would make the Saturday of the party at least bearable. She seemed to have gotten over what ever animosity she'd felt toward me after the Holland affair. She had also noted that my status was better suited for having a full-fledged guardian as a bodyguard. Again, she wasn’t wrong. Callahan would be in attendance at the affair as the bodyguard for another vampire of noble heritage so I’d at least be able to see him.

I chalked up my keen desire to see the shifter to the half-formed blood bond we had forged. Unlike collaring, blood bonds carried more than just a social implication and a snazzy accessory for the shifter. It was a physical connection between vampire and shifter, one that reduced the shifter to little more than a slave. Luckily for shifters, vampires could not force the completion of a bond on to them. Shifters had to willing give their blood to the shifter or the bond wouldn’t work. 

This was why I had been so upset and regretful about forming even a partial bond with Callahan. Callahan, being the somewhat legendary prodigy that he was, was on the fast track to becoming a guardian, and guardians were never collared. During the limo ride to the Hemsworth estate, Vanessa mentioned that Callahan was hoping to take the exam at the end of the year. If he survived the examination—because not every shifter who took the exam lived to tell the tale let alone tout the title that came with it—then at the very least I could broach the subject of Callahan being my personal and permanent bodyguard. I didn’t know his aspirations beyond becoming a guardian, but being on the staff of a Samirilian would be an honor for such a young shifter. 

My reasoning for wanting Callahan as a future bodyguard, I realized as I watched the snow-laden scenery pass by outside the car window—luckily it was night, so my eyeballs weren’t scorched from their sockets by the sun glaring off of the white banks— was I trusted to him. He knew I couldn’t feed on humans and he’d offer his own blood as a replacement for this, as well as his silence regarding my rather peculiar condition.

Though my thoughts remained on Callahan, I steered conversation with Vanessa away from him for the remainder of the car ride. When I had mentioned his wanting to be a guardian, Vanessa had cast be a bemused smile, much like the expression she had worn in Callahan’s bedroom while she watched our antics on the bed. The smile made me flush in embarrassment, like a school boy whose crush had been found out. Unlike a school boy, however, I didn’t want to hold hands with Callahan and take long walks under the stars. I wanted him to fuck my brains out. 

When we arrived at Adrian's humble abode, dawn was painting the sky in soft gold. I yawned as I stumbled sleepily out of the limo onto the gravel driveway of the resplendent mansion. A vampire servant kindly caught my arm and helped steady me. 

“Carry me to my room,” I beseeched Vanessa as I plodded up behind her. I draped myself over her back.

“Not happening,” Vanessa said with a wry laugh. She didn’t shake me off though, instead letting me lean against her while we watched the servant take our bags out of the trunk.

“If you would follow me, please, I can show you to your rooms,” the servant said with a slight bow.

I detached myself from Vanessa and we followed the vampire into the mansion. Nestled in the foothills of the Rockys close to the Canada border, the estate was draped in a gentle blanket of snow. I loved the cold when I wasn’t out in it. When I was bundled in blankets by a small fire, I was beyond content, but being outside in the frosty weather was not my idea of a fun time. Which was why I would be opting out of the late night skiing Saturday evening at ten P.M..

As soon as we entered the spacious guest quarters, I made a beeline for the bed and threw myself onto it. I curled up in a tight ball and closed my eyes, sighing happily. Vanessa directed the unpacking of my suitcase to ensure my clothes wouldn’t be wrinkled. She took her own bag into the small bedroom connected to mine. She returned shortly thereafter, and asked if I was going to bed now. I nodded and mumbled she could do whatever she wanted for the day. She returned to her room and soon I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

I was awoken by a soft shaking of my shoulders. Some time during the day, I had found my way under the covers and curled around one of the massive pillows the plush bed had to offer. I mewed despondently as the shaking continued. Blinking my eyes open slowly I glowered up at whomever was rousing me.

“Hey,” Vanessa said. “It’s two A.M..”

“Mm, I slept so long.” I groaned and sat up slowly. 

“You sure did,” Vanessa said with a laugh. “You were completely dead to the world. I could have hosted a pregame in here and you wouldn’t have woken up.” She stepped back from the the bed. She was already dressed for the evening. Her dark hair was coiled on the top of her head in an elaborate, braided bun. A dusting of makeup covered her face. She wore a skin tight black dress that accentuated her curves and displayed her toned toned biceps. She was still barefoot, however; I assumed she wouldn’t remain that way.

“Ah, man, we should have a pregame,” I said, rubbing sleep out of my eyes.

“I’m surprised you’d want to spend time with any of your peers.” Vanessa turned and headed to the couch. She sprawled on it with a sigh. 

“Oh, yeah, I hate all of them,” I remembered in a forlorn voice. “You look nice,” I said as I crossed through the parlor portion of the room to the door of the bathroom.

“Thanks.” She flashed me a grin. “It’s nice to get beautified every once in a while.”

I hummed in agreement before pushing my way into the bathroom. I had my own beautification routine to execute and I only had six hours to do. Of course, that was a stupid amount of time to devote to hair and makeup, but I liked to take my time to ensure everything was perfect.

Despite the boatloads of time I had at my disposal, I still managed to find myself running late. I dashed back and forth between the closet and the mirror as I tried to determine the best outfit for the night.

“Why did you bring so many options?” Vanessa yelled at me from the hallway.

“I didn’t know which one I’d feel like wearing,” I shot back at her. I tripped to a halt in front of the mirror and looked myself over.

“That’s the same goddamn outfit as the last one!”

“No, it’s not, you uncultured swine!” 

To the layman, it was pretty much the same outfit: tight black pants and a tailored suit jacket. It took a discerning eye like my own to note the satin lining, cut, and various other such details. 

“This’ll do,” I said with a nod. Bracing myself against the wall, I carefully situated my feet in my six-inch heels.

“Aren’t you gonna put a shirt on?” Vanessa said, staring at me in confusion as I hurried down the entry way to her.

“No, this look has no shirt under the jacket,” I replied haughtily. I crossed the threshold and Vanessa closed the door behind me.

“Alright, if you say so,” Vanessa said as she locked the door. She stepped back and looked me up and down. 

My pale sternum stood in stark contrast to the black jacket. A silk bow was tied around my slender neck. My hair, which had finally returned to white-blond after the abusive dye-stripping process, hung to my waist. I had put a few extensions in to achieve the stunning length. My stilettos were custom-made imports from Italy. I had six pairs in this design. This particular pair was a shocking red. I had also applied copious makeup that accentuated my high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes.

“You look good.” Vanessa nodded approvingly. She probably felt that part of her job as my bodyguard was to make sure I didn’t roll up looking like a fool. “Are you going to be able to walk in those?” she asked as she set out down the corridor.

“Of course,” I scoffed. “In fact I could run in them.”

“Well, I only need a speed walk out of you. We’re going to be a few minutes late,” she observed as she quickened her pace down the hallway.

I followed suit with ease. I hadn’t been hyperbolizing when I’d said I could run in stilettos. If an outfit impeded my ability to kill a man, I didn’t wear it. And these shoes would in fact assist me in slaying, in more ways than one.

When we reached the doorway that led onto the balcony above the entrance hall, Vanessa brought her pace down to a leisurely stroll. Late or not, it would not look good to rush. 

We crossed the balcony to the top of the grand staircase. My eyes dropped to the floor below us. I had felt his icy stare on me since I’d stepped onto the balcony, but I didn’t meet his gaze until now. My eyes flitted up to his cold blue ones and I bit my lip self-consciously.

My father was scowling at me, which came as no surprise. I rarely earned any other expression from him. His aggressively handsome face was twisted with the expression, though it didn’t diminish his enthralling looks. He wasn’t the only occupant of the entry hall. Guests entering through main double doors of the mansion spared him quick glances. I saw out of the corner of my eye a pair of young women catch sight of him and openly ogle. 

I kept my eyes on him as well, though my face remained blank and my lids were dutifully lowered after the initial eye contact. I descended the steps quickly. My father continued to watch me, as did the shifter guardian at his side. He had had this same collared shifter for some time now. Ethan was a strong, capable man and a close confidant of my father despite his non-vampiric status.

“Father,” I murmured by way of greeting as I stopped in front of him.

“You’re late,” he admonished brusquely. “I’ve been waiting for you for ten minutes.”

“I’m sorry.” I kept my gaze lowered as I spoke. 

“I see your hair is back to normal,” he noted. He reached out a hand and caught a lock between his fingers.

I flushed and ducked my head. “Do, do I look alright?” I asked.

“Well, let me get a good look at you,” my father snapped. He grabbed my chin and yanked my head up. His blue eyes flickered over my face as he appraised my makeup skills. “Passable,” he finally concluded.

I smiled happily up at him.

“You’ll be on your best behavior tonight,” my father said as he released my chin. He folded his arms. He was dressed in a crisp black suit. It had a more masculine tailoring to it than mine and of course he wore loafers instead of heels. Despite this, he was still a head and a half taller than me.

“Yes, sir.” I nodded quickly.

“You.” My father brandished a finger at Vanessa, who stepped forward and inclined her head. “You’re his bodyguard tonight?”

“Yes, sir,” Vanessa said with another nod.

“Make sure he doesn’t do anything _unsightly_ ,” my father said with a sneer.

“Yes, sir.”

My father nodded and turned on his heel. Ethan fell into step beside him and they headed toward the door through which the other guests were streaming. Vanessa and I followed after the pair.

The door opened into an enormous ballroom. Tables at standing height dotted the perimeter of the room. Servants flitted among them and the guests with trays of food and beverages. The ballroom was already filled with guests. Conversation buzzed through the room, underscored by a soft hum of music, which emanated from the far corner of the room where a string quartet was positioned.

“Come with me to greet the host, then you may do as you will,” my father said.

I nodded and continued to follow him across the room. He was making a beeline to a table on the other side of the open floor, where Adrian Hemsworth was being obsequiously greeted by the two women who had ogled by father. Adrian waved the pair away as he noted our approach.

“Lord Samirilian,” he said, extending his hand to my father, “thank you for coming.”

“Of course, your invitation was most gracious.” My father’s face relaxed in a generous smile and his voice was coated with honey. He took Adrian’s hand in a strong grip.

“This must be your son.” Adrian looked at me with a welcoming smile.

“Yes, this is Lucian,” my father said.

I nodded to Adrian, not trusting myself not to make a sarcastic comment about the dismissive tone in my father’s voice. I was the only one who would have picked up on it. 

“Let us discuss our Tokyo arrangement,” my father said. 

“Excuse me,” I said under my breath as the pair moved away to Adrian’s table.

Neither man spared me a cursory glance; Adrian was too busy devoting every ounce of his attention to my father and my father…Well, he was a jackass and barely paid attention to me unless I did something wrong.

I turned away from the pair and headed to the opposite side of the room. With a sigh of relief, I draped myself over one of the tables. Vanessa leaned back against it on her elbows.

“So, that was your dad,” she said. She glanced down at me.

“Yep,” I said. I sighed again and propped my chin in my hand. “He’s a dick.”

“What did he mean about 'anything unsightly’?” she asked. Her gaze moved to the surrounding crowd.

“Getting drunk, hooking up with someone in the middle of the room, kicking a noble in the dick,” I listed off.

Vanessa looked back at me with wide eyes.

“I was a rambunctious teen,” I said with a shrug. “Don’t worry, I’ve mellowed out, but I am totally gonna hook up with someone tonight. In private.” 

Vanessa’s eyes narrowed. She yanked the glare away from me and returned to perusing the crowd for a possible threat.

“What about Callahan?” she asked. 

“What about him?”

“Aren’t you two—don’t you two have a thing?” 

“Nah, I can’t have things with uncollared shifters,” I said. “Even if we did have a thing, I could still hook up with whoever I want.”

“That’s a dick move,” Vanessa muttered. 

“News flash, vampires aren’t monogamous like shifters are,” I pointed out.

Vanessa shrugged and released a grating sigh. “I know.” She tossed her head in annoyance. 

I didn’t blame her for being annoyed with me. Most shifters were monogamous by nature, though this was generally only with other shifters. Most vampires, on the other hand, had multiple bed partners, shifter and vampire alike. What did annoy me about Vanessa’s take on the situation was that she was interpreting my and Callahan’s relationship as something that had monogamous potential. I just wanted to fuck the guy, not date him. As far as I was concerned eating breakfast with Callahan on his bed held no significant meaning.

A thrumming in my veins drew my attention to the subject of our conversation. I snapped upright and looked over my shoulder. Vanessa looked around at my burst of sudden movement.

Callahan already had his eyes on me. The blood bond lent both of us an awareness for the other. His face was expressionless as he looked at me. He stood a step behind his vampire. His hands were pushed lazily into his pockets. He was dressed in a khakis, a dark sweater, and leather jacket. I licked my lips unconsciously as my eyes roamed over him. I could feel my blood humming in his veins. Callahan’s jaw tightened and he yanked his gaze away from me. I quickly looked back at the table and tried to kill the blush that had covered my face.

“Yeah,” Vanessa said sarcastically, “you two _definitely_ don’t have a thing.”

“Fuck off,” I muttered. 

“You were literally eye-fucking each other across the room,” Vanessa continued, waving her hand in Callahan's direction. “I’ll need to talk to Callahan about keeping it in his pants at vampire functions.”

“Speaking of fucking, I’m going to find someone to have sex with,” I said, a touch more loudly than propriety would deem courteous.

My announcement garnered the attention of a cluster of vampires my age at the table beside ours. Male and female vampires alike sent me lascivious glances. I ignored them as I melted into the crowd.

“Shouldn’t you schmooze with people?” Vanessa asked as she followed close on my heels. 

“I’ll schmooze and then get fucked,” I promised her.

“Please stop talking about getting laid. That definitely counts as unsightly,” Vanessa muttered. 

I ignored her as I moved through the crowd, my eyes peeled for a suitable partner for the evening. Part of me wanted to hook up with someone to spite Vanessa and her claims of a Lucian-Callahan thing. The rest of me was just a horny hoe.

“You got a type?” Vanessa asked. “Or will anyone do?”

“Hm, let’s see,” I said. “Teachers and shifter instructions are nice. Or humans because that’s definitely unsightly. No one in my grade. Older is always better because of the illicit nature of the affair.” I flashed her a wolfish grin.

“In other words, you have daddy issues,” she said.

“Who doesn’t have daddy issues?” I muttered.

“Most people actually.”

I looked at her and stuck out my tongue. She rolled her eyes. Over her shoulder I caught sight of a tall, broad shouldered vampire. His eyes were a soft green; his hair a light shade of auburn. He had a square jaw and long nose that fit his strong facial features. I also recognized his face.

“Ooh, yes, found the one,” I said as I pushed pass Vanessa. I hurried up to the vampire. “Excuse me? Lord Syr?” I didn’t care that I was blatantly interrupting the woman speaking to him.

Syr turned to me with a polite smile, which brightened even more when he recognized me. Meanwhile, the woman was scowling openly at me behind his back.

“Lucian,” he said. He waved his hand dismissively and the woman departed.

“It’s good to see you, sir,” I said. I glanced up at him through my lashes and bit my lip.

“You as well,” the vampire Royal said. Lord Syr and my father were long time on-and-off again business partners. Currently they were in the off part of this relationship. From what my father had divulged to me, he and Syr had yet to come to an agreement regarding my father’s most recent proposal.

“I hear you and my father are at a bit of an impasse,” I said with a small smile. I tossed my hair over my shoulder.

“We are,” Syr said with a low chuckle. 

“I haven’t talked about it much with him; maybe you could share the details with me?” I glanced up at him again and smiled.

“That would be best done in private,” Syr said in a low voice. His gazes was openly roving over my body.

“I don’t mind,” I said, taking a small step forward.

Syr grinned and nodded. He turned on his heel and beckoned for me to follow as he crossed the ballroom. I hastened after him, falling into step a pace behind him. We left the ballroom and mounted the grand staircase. Two sets of footsteps behind us announced the presence of our shifters.Syr led the way down a corridor on the opposite side of the mansion from where my room lay. 

Syr stopped by one of the doors that led off the hallway. He opened it and gestured for me to enter. I stepped inside and glanced around. I stood in a parlor room, off from which stood a bedroom. This was most likely Syr’s guest room for the weekend; the parlor alone was about the size of my entire guest room. It wasn’t surprising that his rooms dwarfed mine in size. 

Syr moved inside after me. He placed his hand on my lower back and steered me to the couch that stood in front of a set of large bay windows. We took a seat together. Both Vanessa and Syr’s shifter had entered the room after us. Vanessa closed the door and took up position flanking the door with the other bodyguard.

“I admit,” Syr said, “I hadn’t pegged you for having much interest in your father’s business. I hear you spend most of your time on other activities at school.” He smirked at me.

“That’s true,” I said with a small shrug. “I am interested in seeing my father’s business deals come to fruition though.” I glanced at him and bit my lip. The latter action had the benefit of being both coy and a way to alleviate some of my nervousness regarding the situation. I reached out and slid my hand over Syr’s knee. 

“Go on,” he said in a low voice.

I slipped off the couch and kneeled between Syr’s legs. The Royal laughed and he draped his arms over the back of the couch. 

“My, you have no shame,” he said as I slid my hands up his thighs. “The shifters are still here.” He inclined his head toward the door.

“I don’t care,” I said with a shrug. I smiled up at him before dropping my gaze to his crotch.

Syr waved his hand dismissively to Vanessa and his shifter. His eyes remained on me. I slowly undid his pants and drew out his half-hard cock. I smiled. I was quite pleased that getting on my knees alone was enough to arouse the man. I took his cock in my hand and bent forward.

I heard the door shut as I drew my tongue over his length. I could feel his eyes on me as I swirled my tongue around the tip of his cock. Steadily, his cock swelled in my hand. I scraped my teeth gently over the crown. His member twitched and I heard a soft intake of breath from Syr.

“I don’t have a lot of time to spare for you, Lucian,” he said. He slid his hand my head and gripped my hair at the back of my head. “Open your mouth.”

I did so.

“Good boy,” Syr said as he carefully slid his cock into my mouth.

A small mew caught in the back of my throat as his length filled my mouth. My jaw ache as I opened my mouth further. I relaxed my throat as much as possible and breathed evenly through my nose.

Syr shoved his cock to the back of my throat. I yelped, the sound muffled by the engorged member. My eyes watered and I stared up at him. His other hand came to my head as well and he shifted forward on the couch. I pressed the heel of my hand against my crotch.

“Does this turn you on?” Syr asked as he pulled out slowly. “Offering up your mouth to be fucked for the sake of your father?” He thrust back into my throat, ramming the crown of his cock against the back of my throat.

I choked on the girth. My hand flashed to his knee and I gripped it tightly. My other hand continued to palm my cock.

“Fuck, this is a sight,” Syr said. He half-rose off the couch as he continued to fuck brutally down my throat. “Lucian Samirilian’s flushed, crying face as he chokes on cock. I’d love to hear the sounds you make as you take it up the ass.”

I whined loudly. Drool dribbled over my chin. My tongue worked against the underside of Syr’s cock. He groaned loudly and his thrusts grew sporadic.

“Fuck, perfect. Your mouth is perfect, little slut.”

I moaned around his cock and my eyes fluttered shut. A sharp slap across my face made my eyes spring over. I whimpered as pain burned my cheek.

“Look at me, whore,” Syr snapped.

I nodded as my best I could and stared up at him. For whatever reason, this wasn't as enjoyable as it usually was. I had always been one for deep throating, but today just wasn't doing it for me. As I pressed my hand against my soft cock, I couldn't help but think I'd rather have Callahan's dick down my throat.

* * *

“Does your charge always get on his knees for Royals?” Syr’s shifter asked.

Vanessa glanced over at him and her lips twisted in an annoyed scowl. “Don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “First time I’ve been his bodyguard. Does yours always face fuck kids as the price for business deals?”

The shifter scowled and glared down the hallway. He folded his arms and leaned back against the wall.

A sharp crack echoed behind the door. Vanessa grimaced as she glanced at the door. That had most certainly been the sound of a slap. She didn’t much like the idea of Lucian getting bitch-slapped by the Royal, but if it was all consensual, there wasn’t much she could do in the matter.

The shifter beside her chuckled quietly. Vanessa directed her glare down the hall away from him. Another idea she didn’t much like was the fact Lucian was giving that vampire prick a blow job for the sake of his father’s business. Lucian could spout a big game about just wanting to hook up with someone, but his choice in partners had been calculated, and hinged on Syr’s identity as his father’s business partner. Vanessa wondered if Lord Samilirian knew that his son put out for his business partners. Maybe Lord Samirilian expected that of Lucian. 

A loud crash of shattering glass resounded behind the door. Both shifters spun around and stared at the door. Vanessa’s hand was already poised above the doorknob. She glanced up at the other shifter.

“Michael! Get in here now!” Syr bellowed.

Vanessa twisted the knob sharply and Michael plowed into the room. Vanessa ran in after him. A slender body was hurled across the room at the shifters. Lucian slammed into Michael’s chest. Michael stumbled backward as he caught the vampire in his arms. 

Lord Syr stood by the couch. His eyes were locked toward the bedroom door. Jagged shards of tinted glass encircled the gaping hole in the window behind him. A chill wind flooded the room. Sunlight spilled into the room, but Syr stood just beyond the harmful rays.

Vanessa’s nose twitched as an acrid smell stabbed her nostrils. Her eyes flashed as her head jerked to the side. 

A sanguine crouched in the doorway of the bedroom. Its leather, wrinkled face was distorted in a horrible scowl. A cluster of jumbled, overlapping needle-like teeth filled its maw. With a screech like nails on a chalkboard, the sanguine launched itself across the room toward Syr.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope people liked this chapter!! we're gonna get some action in the next one!!


	9. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: blood, body horror
> 
> i added the definition of sanguines into the first chapter but here it is also if you don't want to go back!
> 
> Sanguines were vampires that had fallen into a blood frenzy and never got put down by a shifter. Eventually, the blood frenzy would mellow out and just leave the sang as a mindless creature wandering through woods or cities, looking for any source of blood. Since they consumed such a sickening amount of blood, they were stronger and faster than regular vampires. They also were a hell of a lot uglier because the excessive blood drinking withered their skin, made them go bald, and grow a disgusting number of teeth. All and all they were hella gross and incredibly lethal.

Syr came deep in the back of my throat a few minutes after the slap. I choked down his hot cum and dropped back on my ass on the floor. I panted, coughed, and wiped my mouth on the back of my hand.

“You are quite exceptional at that, Lucian,” Syr drawled as he tucked himself back in his pants.

“Why thank you,” I said. “I—“

I was cut off by a huge crash. A twisted creature flew through the curtains in a spray of shattered glass. I cried out as sunlight and glass poured over me. My hands flew to my face. Syr grabbed me by the back of my neck and pulled me against the couch where the sun couldn’t reach me. I whimpered quietly as I continued to cradle my face in my hands. Blisters and cuts burned pain into my face. 

Syr surged to his feet. A vicious snarl made me look around. A sanguine crouched in the middle of the room. The skin of its cheeks spread horrifyingly thin as it opened its maw wide. 

It leapt toward Syr. Syr’s arm lashed out and he sent the sang flying across the room with little effort. 

“Michael! Get in here now!” Syr bellowed.

The Royal whipped around, lifted me off the floor, and hurled me toward the door. I was too shocked to even vocalize my surprise. I flew through the air and slammed into someone’s hard chest. Michael grunted as he caught me in his arms. 

“What the fuck,” Vanessa whispered as her eyes fell on the sanguine that hunkered in the bedroom doorway.

“Michael, alert the other guardians. Shifter, get that boy out of here.” Syr flicked his wrist and jagged ice encrusted his forearm, shredding his jacket sleeve. It would seem his element of choice was water and of the cold variety. I could have guessed from the chill of his skin.

The sanguine hissed as it eyed the elemental magic. Syr appraised the creature with narrow eyes. The pair began to circle each other slowly.

“Here.” Michael dumped me into Vanessa’s arms completely unceremoniously. He grabbed Vanessa’s arms and yanked her out of the room.

“Your master—“ Vanessa began.

“Can handle himself,” Michael retorted.

A feral shriek of pain echoed behind us. I looked over Vanessa’s shoulder. The sanguine huddled in the middle of the room, blood pouring from its shoulder; its arm spasmed and twitched on the floor a few feet away. Syr advanced on the creature. The ice fringing his arm was blood stained. 

Michael slammed the door shut and took off down the hallway. Vanessa dumped me on my feet. I stumbled slightly as I collected my footing in my thin heels.

“Time to see you run in those heels,” Vanessa said, catching my hand. She yanked me after her as she set off in the opposite direction from Michael.

“Oh, that won’t be a problem,” I said with a laugh. I slipped my hand from hers and raced ahead of her down the hall. “See!” I called happily over my shoulder. Sure, having a hook up interrupted by the appearance of a sanguine inside of a noble’s mansion that bordered on a fortress considering the security put a damper on things, but I was still all for teasing Vanessa. “I can totally out run you.”

“Please don’t break your leg,” Vanessa snapped as she raced after me. “That’s the last thing I need right now.” Her voice was gravely and bordered on a growl.

I looked over my shoulder at her. Her eyes were positively radiating blue light; her face muscles roiled beneath her skin; her ears were pointed; and I could see her nails had elongated into claws. 

“Ooh, ooh!” I said as I spun on my heel and took to prancing delicately backwards down the hallway. “Are you gonna shift? I wanna see your shifter form.”

A scrabbling sound came from the end of the hall. I looked over my shoulder. A pair of jagged claws were latched around the corner of the hallway. 

“Lu! Get down!” Vanessa yelled.

I dropped immediately into a crouch. My momentum rolled me onto my back. The sanguine yanked itself around the corner and leapt off the wall. It flew at Vanessa. The shifter spun and intercepted the creature with a powerful kick to the chest. It flew backwards, over my head once more. It landed in a crouch behind me. 

I jackknifed to my feet with a grace that spoke to years of practice. I kicked the floor lightly with the front of my shoe as I darted toward the sanguine. I jumped and lashed out with my foot. The blade that had unsheathed from my heel sliced through the sanguine’s neck. Its head tumbled off the stump of its neck in a spurt of blood. I landed gracefully on the balls of my feet. I tapped the tap of my shoe on the floor, sheathing the blade.

“That’s why I wear heels,” I said with a grin as I looked over at Vanessa.

She was staring at me with wide eyes. She blinked a few times before nodding. 

“Neat,” she said. “Let’s get you somewhere safe.” She raced forward and caught my hand again. She seemed to have a thing for having physical contact with her charge during a dangerous situation so I let her hold onto me.

We ran hand-in-hand down the hallway in some sort of twisted parody of prancing through a meadow. Vanessa led the way through the twisting corridors. I wondered if she knew where she was going. Eventually, and miraculously as far as my terrible sense of direction was concerned, we managed to reach our room. Vanessa pulled the door open and ushered me inside.

“Stay away from the window,” she ordered as she released my hand. She locked the door behind us and went to the window. She slammed her fist against the innocuous button on the wall. Behind the drawn curtains, a grating sound resonated as the metal barrier slid into place. 

I moved to the couch and dropped onto it. Now that we weren’t in the midst of fleeing, my mind was starting to catch up with the reality of the situation. I stared down at my heel, which was splattered in sang blood. Some of it had gotten on my pants leg as well. I grimaced. 

“How the fuck did they get into the building in day time?” Vanessa hissed as she stalked away from the window. She spun on her heel and paced back to the window.

“How did they get _to_ the building?” I pointed out. “I thought shifters were patrolling the perimeter.”

“They are, but they’re probably dead now,” Vanessa said. Her face twisted into a dark scowl. Now that we were in the protected seclusion of the guest room, her face had returned to his more humanoid features. “Fuck,” she muttered as she continued to pace back and forth. 

A sudden bang rang through the room. Our eyes leapt to the bedroom door. Another bang sounded and the door shuddered under the impact. My mouth fell open; Vanessa stood frozen by the window.

“That, that’s a steel enforced door,” I said quietly. 

The door shuddered again and a long crack appeared down the middle.

“What the fuck?” I whispered as I pushed myself to my feet. “A sang can’t break that door down.”

Vanessa released a long sigh. I glanced at her over my shoulders. She closed her eyes. Her face shifted; skin stretched; bones slid fluidly. I bit down a bout of nausea as I watched her face coalesce into a twisted, but flawless hybrid of human and snow leopard. The latter was identifiable by the soft white and black-spotted fur that flared up over her forearms. 

Vanessa worked her jaw carefully as she opened her eyes. They were huge, round, and a palpable blue. The were-leopard stalked slowly to the door as she shed off her torn dress, revealing a supple, fur-covered body. The guardian stopped in front of the door, which was still enduring a brutal assault. 

Vanessa threw back her head and released a vicious, feral roar. The pounding on the door ceased. Vanessa dropped into a low crouch. The assailant slammed into the door once more, ripping it from its mooring. The door flew into the room, spitting shrapnel of wood and metal.

Vanessa ducked to the side and leapt into the air. She spun and lashed out with a powerful kick. The creature in the door caught the attack with languid ease and hurled Vanessa across the room. She slammed into the wall with a menacing thud and slid to the floor, dazed.

I stared at the twisted monstrosity in the doorway as it dropped into a crouch. Deformed limbs, swathed in thin ashen skin, twisted around the creature, defying all laws of joints. The sangs face was sallow, withered. It didn’t have a nose or ears. Its blood red eyes were sunk deep into its skull. Its maw lolled open, revealing three rows of finitely sharp teeth that clustered together in a grotesque fashion. Its long, twisted tongue snaked out of its mouth. 

This fucker was old, old as balls. I had never seen a sanguine as old as this one. A sang’s age could be determined by how butt ugly they were and this guy took the fucking cake. He’d probably been a sprightly young fellow back in the fucking Middle Ages.

The sanguine’s jaw fell open sickeningly wide and it released a horrible screech. My hands flew to my ears as the piercing sound echoed through the air. 

Vanessa lurched to her feet. A low growl rolled off her lips. Her muscles coiled; she lunged. The sanguine darted to the side in a scuttling fashion. A clawed hand, sporting three bulbous fingers, lashed out at Vanessa. The claws scraped across her side as she flew past the creature. Vanessa landed in a crouch. She staggered and twisted around. The sanguine lashed out again, bombarding her with a flurry of claws. She blocked them quickly, dexterously, but she was slowly being beaten back. Blood dripped languidly from her side, staining and matting her fur.

I trembled from head to toe as I watched the two battling creatures. The tremors that wracked by body was by no means from terror. Okay, maybe I was a touch nervous; this sanguine was ridiculously powerful. For the most part what quaked by body was the keen desire to leap to Vanessa’s defense warring with the need to stay out of it for fear of revealing too much of my abilities. It had been drilled into me to only fight when my life was without a doubt on the line. Until that moment came, my father had always told me shifters could handle things.

The sanguine snaked under Vanessa’s defenses. It reared up behind her and its hand latched onto her neck. It yanked her off her feet and threw her bodily into the floor. Her head cracked off the paneled floor and a gash split open her forehead. She pushed herself slowly to her knees. Blood obscured the left side of her face. She swayed.

The sanguine’s arm twisted back. Three viciously sharp claws poised above her head. It lashed out.

I flew across the room. I ducked under the sanguine’s arm and shoved Vanessa out of the way. Pain ripped through my back as the sanguine’s claws punctured by flesh. Several of my ribs shattered on impact. I whimpered desperately as pain lanced through me. My eyes drifted down to my chest. Three sharp claws poked out of my chest below my heart.

Damn. That hadn’t gone well.

My blood seeped languidly around the twisted claws. My head spun as the scent bombarded; my fangs ached desperately; my veins thrummed in anticipation. The sanguine yanked its claws ruthlessly out of my chest. I started to fall, but suddenly the three bulbous fingers twined in my hair and yanked my head back. My back pressed against the sanguine’s chest. Its arm coiled around my chest, palming me over the gaping wounds. I grimaced and tried to suppress a whimper of disgust. Its head dropped down close to my ear.

“I will deal with you later,” it whispered.

I gasped in shock. The sanguine flung me to the side by my hair. I flew through the air and slammed against the wall. I dropped to the floor and mass of limbs and disorientation. 

I heard a yowl as Vanessa reengaged with the sanguine, but my body was too frozen with horror for me to do anything more than stare wide-eyed at the floor in front of me. The sanguine had spoke. It had fucking _spoke_. That could only mean one thing; it was being piloted. Sanguines were mindless creatures by nature. This meant there was a huge vacancy in its skull for someone to step in and take the reigns. Necromancers were vampires capable of taking these proverbial reigns and commanding sanguines. They were also ridiculously rare to the point of supposedly being non-existent. 

A horrible scream, decidedly more human than animal, ripped from Vanessa’s mouth. My head jerked up. The sanguine had a grip on the back of Vanessa’s neck and was ruthlessly twisting her arm behind her back. It had already dislocated her shoulder but it seemed intent of ripping her entire arm off.

Suddenly a huge chunk of the shattered door flew across the room and smashed into the side of the sanguine’s head. It stumbled and released Vanessa. It dropped into a low crouch and twisted its head toward the source of the assault.

Callahan stood in the doorway. His eyes were narrow and glowing a deep, vibrant green. His lip pulled back from his teeth and a low growl rumbled deep in his chest. His face was still completely human, though his ears were rather pointed. His fingers sported long claws that approached on small sickles. Despite retaining his human form, he was absolutely terrifying. He met the sanguine’s red eyes with his own green ones and snarled again.

Suddenly, Vanessa twisted around. Her jaw opened wide and she buried her teeth deep in the sanguine’s calf. The creature shrieked in pain. It snatched ahold of Vanessa’s shoulder and tried to rip her off. With tenacious determination, Vanessa continued to cling to him.

Callahan surged across the room. He spun into the air and slammed his heel down on the side of the sanguine’s face. The creature snarled as its neck snapped to the side. Callahan landed lightly on his feet and snaked his clawed hand out. His claws raked across the sanguine’s face. 

The sanguine roared in pain. It yanked its leg viciously from Vanessa’s maw. It stumbled forward—and froze. It was as if invisible strings attached to its limbs had been snipped. The pilot must have made a run for it. Callahan drove his clawed hand into the sanguines chest. Its sternum collapsed like it was made of tissue paper. Blood exploded from the wound. Callahan ripped his hand back and crushed the creature’s wizened heart in his hand. 

The sang collapsed in a mess of blood and haggard limbs. Callahan stepped back from the mess. His lips were pressed together in disgust. He wiped his blood-coated hand on his pants.

Vanessa let out a loud groan and slumped onto her elbow. Her body shuddered and fur melted away to reveal her soft, pale skin. Her left arm hung uselessly at her side. She raised her other hand carefully to her head and lightly touched the gaping gash in her forehead.

“You two, okay?” Callahan asked, his eyes flickering between us.

Vanessa nodded slowly. “Thanks,” she murmured.

My jaw tightened as I stared at the mangled remains of the sang. My blood thrummed in my veins. My head spun as my nostrils were bombarded by that telltale metallic, coppery scent. My mouth watered as I drank in the smell of Vanessa’s blood, intertwined with the sickeningly sweet smell of the sang. My own blood leaked lethargically down my back and chest. Its delicious wafted to my nose. My cheeks heated as my mind grew foggy.

“Lu?” Callahan murmured

My lips parted and my fangs slid further from my gums, which ached painfully as need rose inside my throat. A strain of drool dripped off my fang and rolled down my chin. I released a rattling breath. 

“Lucian,” Callahan breathed as he took a step forward. 

I lunged.


	10. Chapter Ten

Callahan’s eyes flickered around the room in tedious exasperation. His charge for the evening was busy trying to flirt with a pair of vampire girls. Ian was doing such a spectacularly terrible job at this task that Callahan had to keep himself from cringing with second hand embarrassment. The girls were taking pity on the other vampire and tittered at his jokes in a forced fashion. Ian didn’t pick up on this fact and was merely fueled on by the awkward bouts of giggles.

Eventually the girls excused themselves and Callahan silently thanked them. He didn’t look in their direction, though. Just feeling the eye-fucking stares they were sending in his direction was enough for him. He was well-aware of the fact that he was attractive, but in the eyes of vampires he was reduced to little more than an object. He had been approached several times since arriving at the Academy with offers for collaring. He politely declined all the offers, though he would have much rather snapped at the vampires that had even dared to broach the topic with him. His desire to become a guardian was well-known at the Academy, since apparently the Academy was a place where someone’s personal affairs became the fodder for the gossip mill. This was also the reason why his heritage was the subject of conversation. As of yet, no one save for Lucian had been stupid enough to mention that to his face.

Ian secured himself another glass of champagne, his seventh of the night, and made his way out of the ballroom. Callahan loped after him as the vampire headed to the bathroom. Ian ducked into the room and Callahan draped himself against the wall beside the door. Getting away from the boisterous gathering brought him a keen sense of relief. 

For a would-be guardian he didn’t do well in crowded places. His anxiety always peeked at these sort of vampire social gatherings. There were so many possible directions from which an attack could come. Sangs weren’t the only threats that shifters had to look out for. It wasn’t uncommon for an assassin to make an attempt on a vampire noble’s life. Callahan by no means expected such an attack to befall Ian, but part of his role as a bodyguard included helping other shifters protect their charges.

A facet of Callahan’s anxiety this evening derived from the presence of one vampire in particular. When he had first caught sight of Lucian, he had stared at the royal for a solid minute, which was approximately fifty-eight seconds longer than a shifter was supposed to look at one thing when he was on duty.

Thankfully Lucian hadn’t noticed his staring since he had been preoccupied with sticking close—and a touch demurely, which wassurprising behavior for the royal—to his father. Lucian looked downright stunning. He was naturally an incredibly attractive vampire, but he had really gone all out for the party. On top of the expertly applied makeup, Lucian had also stripped his hair to its natural color, which resembled distilled starlight in no over-exaggerated fashion. He was breath-taking to put it mildly, though that hadn’t been the only reason for Callahan’s staring.

The partial blood bond that they had formed made him viscerally aware of the vampire’s presence. Every molecule of his blood sang with the keen desire to close the gap between him and the vampire. His body burned with the need to be close to the vampire, close enough to protect, to touch. Suppressing this urge had taken no less than all of his will power.

His will had been tested once more when Lucian, who had drifted within a few dozen yards of him, had whipped around with little disguised subtly and stared at him across the room. Lucian shared an awareness for Callahan, though his was weaker and asked for the vampire to be physically closer to Callahan. Lucian had stared openly at him like a deer caught in a pair of headlights. His cheeks warmed to a soft pink glow. 

Yanking his gaze away from Lucian had been no easy feat, and not just because the blood bond was beseeching him to close the gap. Lucian had looked embarrassed, flustered under Callahan's gaze. He'd licked his lips carefully and his face had blazed with a blush. Callahan's most base instincts screamed at him to grab the vampire and pull him from the party to debouch him in a dark corner. It would seem that the rumors of blood bonds heightening sexual desire were more than a little true. 

Callahan sighed and rubbed his temples. He would be beyond grateful for when the bond died out in a few days. Having his free will tested by the bond was less than desirable. He couldn’t understand why any shifter would willfully commit themselves to a bond and lose all autonomy. On top of that, he'd only be sure that his keen desire to fuck Lucian on every surface available was an aftereffect of the bond once the bond was gone. If that desire remained...well, Callahan would address that if that proved to be the case.

Soft footsteps sounded at the end of the hall. Callahan glanced to the side. A shifter was walking slowly down the corridor. She gazed out the windows as she move along. When she registered Callahan’s eyes, she glanced at him. The pair nodded to each other. The shifter passed him and continued down the hallway. She didn’t have a charge tonight; instead she had been charged with patrolling the mansion.

A sudden fire lanced through Callahan’s veins. He hissed in pain and doubled over. His vision blurred. An indescribably pull dragged at his consciousness. Somewhere, somehow, Lucian was bleeding. 

“Hey!” Callahan called down the hall to the departing shifter. 

The woman turned and frowned at him. She had detected the slightly note of panic in his voice.

“Watch him.” Callahan jerked his head toward the bathroom.

At that moment, Ian stepped out. Callahan grabbed his arm and pushed him to the shifter.

“Watch him,” he repeated.

He didn’t wait for confirmation that the shifter would do as he bid. He turned and raced down the hallway. His bond with Lucian dragged him through the mansion. He moved at a breakneck pace. His heart pounded in his throat and his vision wavered again. Piercing pain stabbed his skull. He needed to find Lucian. _Now_.

He sped around a corner and then he could smell it. He stumbled, slamming into the wall. Lucian’s blood clouded his senses. He could practically taste it the scent was so powerful. He shoved off the wall and continued down the corridor. 

Vanessa’s angry yowl ripped through the air. Callahan ran to an open door at the end of the hall. Open was not entirely accurate, he realized as he stumbled to a stop in the doorframe. The door had been completely demolished. 

Callahan’s eyes flickered up from the shattered remnants of the door just as a horrible scream sounded through the room. A disgustingly shriveled, wizened sanguine had a clawed hand pressed against the back of Vanessa’s neck. The other hand was attempting to detach her arm from its body. Despite the peril Vanessa was in, Callahan’s eyes moved past her. 

Lucian sprawled on the floor by the far wall. His wide yellow eyes stared at Vanessa in horror. His jaw was slack. Blood matted his white-blonde hair.

Callahan grabbed a shard of wood and hurled it at the sang. It spun around, more offended than in any way harmed. It snarled as its red eyes caught sight of Callahan. Callahan’s lips curled back from his teeth and a low growl rumbled deep in his chest.

Callahan attacked. The skirmish was a mess of blood and flashing claws. Callahan barely registered what he was doing. A single thought consumed his mind: the desperate need to protect Lucian no matter what.

Within minutes, Callahan was retracting his hand from the sanguine’s chest. He crushed the creature’s heart in his hand. Blood spurted over him. He grimaced as he stepped back from the creature. He wiped his hand on his pants, though that only served to bloody his pants.

Slowly, his muscles relaxed and the screaming in his blood died out. He lifted his gaze and glanced between Vanessa and Lucian. 

“You two okay?” he asked. 

Vanessa nodded slowly. She had returned to her human form. Her naked body was covered in blood. Pain creased her forehead, which was also marred by a vicious gash. She touched the wound lightly with her fingertips.

“Thanks,” she said.

Callahan looked at Lucian. His eyes were on the mess of blood and limbs that lay in front of the Callahan. Dark veins spread beneath his eyes. 

“Lu?” Callahan murmured.

Lucian’s mouth drifted open and curved fangs strained against his gums. He released a small, whimpering gasp.

“Lucian.” Callahan stepped forward.

Lucian lunged. 

He buried his fangs deep into his own arm. Blood splattered across his face. He cried out around his flesh and curled in on himself. His body shook.

“What the fuck,” Vanessa hissed. “That’s fucking disgusting.”

“Vanessa,” Callahan snapped. 

“What? It’s gross,” Vanessa said as she pushed herself carefully to her feet.

“Would you rather volunteer your blood?” Callahan muttered as he walked slowly toward the vampire.

Vanessa’s lip curled and she tossed her head. Callahan knelt in front of Lucian. The vampire quivered and whined loudly. Callahan would have gladly offered his blood to Lucian to save him from self-cannibalizing, but that would have cemented their blood bond.

A long, piercing siren sounded through the room. Lucian cried out in surprise. Callahan quickly rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“Michael,” Vanessa called over the wailing siren. “He must have sounded the alarm.”

“There are more?” Callahan shouted at her.

“I don’t know. There was this one and then another that attacked Lu and Syr.”

Callahan resisted the urge to demand who this Syr character was. His hand rubbed slow circles into Lucian’s trembling back.

“Vanessa, I’ll look after him. You get dressed and see to your wounds,” Callahan said.

The shifter nodded. Lucian continued to choke around his arm as the shifter collected some clothes and moved into the bathroom.

Several minutes past. Blood dripped over Lucian’s arm. Callahan could hear him swallow every once in a while, but for the most part he merely kept his fangs buried in his arms.

Eventually the alarm cut out. Shifters and vampires alike had very sharp hearing and listening to that persistent wailing was not something anyone wanted to do. Besides, the message had clearly been delivered that there was a sang attack. The next course of action would be to evacuate the estate as quickly as possible with their charges. Callahan just had to hope that Ian was being looked after.

Vanessa emerged from the bathroom, dressed and with a bandage slapped haphazardly across her forehead. Her right arm hung uselessly at her side. It would need much more attention than she could give it now. 

She gritted her teeth in disgust when her eyes fell on Lucian.

“I’ll stand guard outside. Once he gets his shit together we’ll get going,” Vanessa said. She crossed quickly to the doorway and stepped into the hallway.

“Lucian,” Callahan murmured quietly as he turned back to the huddling vampire. “How are you doing?”

Lucian slowly retracted his fangs from his flesh. He sat back. His face had returned to its vein-free pallor. He kept his eyes averted from Callahan. Blood covered his mouth.

“Better?” Callahan asked.

Lucian nodded. 

“What are you doing here?” Lucian mumbled.

“The bond,” Callahan explained shortly.

Lucian nodded again.

“Are you badly hurt?” Callahan asked. He carefully unbuttoned Lucian’s suit jacket and made to push the garment off his shoulders.

Lucian jerked back and clutched at the front of his jacket. His eyes were wide as he stared at Callahan.

“I’m fine,” he whispered.

“Lu, let me take a look,” Callahan shot back at him. He put considerable more weight in the words than he had intended. 

Lucian flinched slightly under the weight of the order. He carefully slipped off his jacket. Callahan carefully pulled Lucian’s matted hair over his uninjured shoulder. Some locks clumped in the puckered puncture wounds. Callahan carefully pulled them aside. He shifted forward to look over Lucian's shoulder and examine his back, but the vampire lurched back.

"It's the same back there," he mumbled. 

Callahan nodded and pulled the jacket over Lucian's shoulders. He didn't want to infringe of Lucian's modesty in any way.

“We’ll have to get this cleaned up,” Callahan murmured. “They shouldn’t take too long to heal. They’re pretty clean through-and-throughs."

Lucian nodded. His eyelids fluttered. He looked absolutely exhausted. Callahan gathered the vampire in his arms and lifted him easily off the ground. Lucian gasped in surprise and his eyes flew open.

“Let’s get you out of here,” Callahan said.

Lucian pressed his face into Callahan’s chest and closed his eyes. 

“Where the Hell is Lucian!” The shout echoed down the hallway beyond the door.

“Father,” Lucian whispered. He made a weak effort to push out of Callahan’s arms, but the shifter held him close as he moved to the door.

“He’s in there, sir,” Vanessa said in a stiff voice. She didn’t enjoy being yelled at on a good day and nearly having her arm torn off did not qualify today as such.

“You left him alone with the door open,” Lord Samirillian snarled. His approaching footsteps closed the gap to the door and he burst into sight. His piercing eyes fell on Callahan with Lucian cradled in his arms.

“He’s not alone,” Vanessa muttered under her breath as she moved in view behind the royal vampire. “And as you can see the door is a bit more than open.”

Lord Samirillian’s lips twisted in a disgruntled fashion as he glowered around the room. He did not appreciate Vanessa’s tone in the slightest, but the state of the room before him took precedent of his attention.

“Father,” Lucian mewed again. He twisted in Callahan’s arms, his own arms outstretched for his father.

Callahan stepped forward quickly so Lucian could coil his arms around his father’s neck. Lord Samirillian stiffened ever so slightly, but he allowed his son to crawl into his arms. Lucian looped his long legs around his father’s waist and clung to him desperately.

“He has a small injury,” Callahan explained, “but he’ll heal quickly."

Lord Samirillian pulled Lucian’s head back from his shoulder by his hair and examined his face. He frowned at the blood-stained state of Lucian’s face, but Lucian shook his head fervently.

“My blood,” the vampire whispered. “I got overwhelmed.”

Lord Samirillian’s face softened and he nodded. Lucian sighed in relief and pressed his face into the crook of his father’s neck.

Callahan frowned slightly. For whatever reason Lord Samirillian was entirely on board with Lucian drinking his own blood. Perhaps the alternative of a mauling a shifter was not a thought the royal enjoyed, but if the rumors of the number of shifters he'd had put down was anything to go by Lord Samirillian held little regard for shifters' well-being.

“Sir.” Lord Samirillian’s shifter spoke from where he stood beside Vanessa in the doorway. He had a hand delicately placed on the small of Vanessa’s back as she listed against him. “We should get to the car.” Callahan recognized the shifter. Ethan was eight years his senior, and a fellow graduate of the New York Academy. They had heard tell of each other since they had both been the top students their respective years.

Lord Samirillian nodded and turned around. Callahan glanced at Lucian’s face as he followed the pair out of the room. Lucian’s eyes were closed. He would have looked peacefully if it hadn’t been for the splash of blood that covered the lower half of his face.

Callahan pulled his gaze from Lucian and wrapped an arm around Vanessa's waist. She draped her uninjured arm over the back of her neck.

“Thanks,” she murmured. “Feeling a bit lightheaded.”

Callahan nodded. “What’s the situation in the rest of the mansion?” he asked Ethan as the trio trailed after Lord Samirillian.

“There’s a pack of sangs in the northeast courtyard,” Ethan explained. “The evacuation is underway. Lord Samirillian was going to leave early tonight anyway so his plane is already ready on the airstrip behind the mansion.” He looked over his shoulder at Callahan and his eyes narrowed. “Didn’t you have a charge tonight?”

Callahan’s jaw tightened. Ethan appraised him with cold eyes. The sharp look in Ethan’s eyes urged Callahan to defer to the senior shifter, but both of them were alphas and Callahan was in no mood to bow his head tonight.

“I switched to scouting the mansion,” he said shortly. “I’ll aid in the evacuation now.”

Callahan eased Vanessa onto her own two feet. She swayed slightly, but Ethan took hold of her.

When they reached a fork in the corridor, Lord Samirillian turned left. Callahan’s very veins seemed to tighten as he turned his back on Lucian and headed in the opposite direction. Even his bones were screaming at him not to leave Lucian, but if he didn’t Ethan would grow suspicious of what sort of relationship he held with Lucian. 

Callahan would be very grateful in the blood bond died out.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> an update yay! it's not a super exciting chapter oh well i'm going to write the second half of the story (so another 30k words about) for camp nano so hopefully i can post rather regularly.

Sluggishly I pushed myself back to consciousness. My skull was throbbing at a slow, perpetual rhythm. I groaned quietly. My head rested comfortably on a plush pillow. I had half a mind to sink back into the pillow, but now that my mind was awake, it was racing rather painfully with what had happened back at the mansion.

With another long groan, I sat up slowly and blinked open my eyes. The cabin of a private jet materialized before my eyes. Ethan sat in one of the seats. His eyes were closed and his fingers were laced together in his lap. His chest rose and fell evenly.

“You're awake.” 

I glanced around hurriedly and found Vanessa watching me with cold blue eyes. She was perched on the edge of the couch that stood opposite the cabin from mine. A sling contained the arm that the sang had attempted to rip off. 

I swallowed and nodded slowly—not that she had really asked me a question. The nod felt placating in a way, like I was trying to will that cold glare out of her eyes.

“Where are we?” I asked in a low voice. “What happened?”

“Your father’s jet,” Vanessa replied crisply. “We’re heading back to the Academy. And for what happened.” Vanessa raised her eyebrows and gave a derisive sneer. “You cannibalized yourself.”

My face paled and my teeth clenched my lower lip self-consciously. Ethan’s eyes opened slowly and flickered between Vanessa and myself. Vanessa’s sneer spread further over her face. I shrugged. My right shoulder twinged with pain. I glanced at it. At the edge of the open cowl of the sweater I wore—I recognized the smell of it as Ethan’s—I could see stiff white bandages. Vanessa was talking a big game for someone whose life I'd just save. I didn't particularly blame her since self-cannibalizing was entirely taboo.  Suppressing a small grimace of pain, I draped my arms over the back of the couch. 

“I’m so sorry you had to witness that,” I said with my own sneer. “It must have been really hard for you.”

Vanessa snorted loudly. “Aren't you the least bit embarrassed?” she said with a disgusted shake of her head. “I just saw you sucking your own blood.”

“Vanessa,” Ethan said in a low, warning tone.

“What? You agree with me.” Vanessa tossed her gaze in Ethan’s direction. “There’s nothing more disgusting than self-cannibalizing.”

“It’s inappropriate to speak of a Royal vampire in such a way,” Ethan replied. He had never been particularly thrilled on the exchanges when he'd found out I had drunk my own blood, but he knew it was the best way to keep myself under control, and not just from potential blood frenzies. On top of that he had seen a lot more disgusting things at the Samarillian household. It wasn't exactly the paragon of esteem.

“I couldn’t exactly help it,” I snapped at the pair. “I got fucking stabbed by a sanguine. And as I recall, I put myself in harm’s way to save your sorry ass.”

Vanessa’s face twisted in annoyance. She opened her mouth to issue a biting retort, but at the moment the door at the back of the plane opened. My father stepped out of the private cabin, slipping his phone into his suit pocket as he went. 

Vanessa clamped her mouth shut and schooled her face to a diplomatic blandness. 

“Father!” I said excitedly. I hopped up onto my knees on the couch and watched him cross the cabin to the couch.

He sat down beside me and allowed for a small smile. I scooted across the cushions and sat on my heels dutifully at his side.

“How are you feeling?” he asked. His yellow eyes flickered over my body.

“I’m alright,” I murmured with a small shrug. “Shoulder hurts a bit.”

“I’m quite curious how you sustained such an injury,” my father said, quirking a dark eyebrow.

I glanced in Vanessa’s direction before quickly anchoring my gaze on the floor. 

“The sang…” I shrugged again. 

“And how was it—“ my father’s head swiveled in Vanessa’s direction. His sharp gaze bore into—“that Lucian was injured while his guardian was present.”

“The sanguine was a lot stronger than could have been anticipated,” Vanessa said in a low voice. 

My father glanced between me and Vanessa. I kept my mouth clamped shut. I was more than a little peeved at Vanessa for her blatant disgust over my self-cannibalization, but my father would be none too pleased to know that I had put myself in danger on Vanessa’s behalf.

“You should be trained for any scenario,” my father said as his eyes returned to Vanessa.

“A sang shouldn’t be able to break down one of those doors,” Vanessa said. “I did my best given circumstances no one could have anticipated.”

“How old was this sang?” my father asked. 

“Very old,” Vanessa said with a slow shake of her head. 

“Black Plague old,” I piped up.

Ethan’s typically taciturn face creased with horror. His eyes widened slightly and he glanced between me and Vanessa. My father glanced at me with scoffing look in his eyes.

“Around that old, yeah,” Vanessa agreed.

“That is,” my father began slowly, “not something one can prepare for.”

Vanessa gave a self-satisfied smirk and settled back against the couch.

I bit my lip, my eyes falling to my interlocked hands on my lap as I recalled what the sanguine had said. No, not _what_ it had said. The fact that it had _said_ anything. My father glanced at me and rested a hand on my knee. 

I leaned forward, resting a hand on his shoulder while concealing my mouth from the shifters with the other. He leaned toward me with raised eyebrow.

“It was being piloted,” I whispered in his ear.

“Are you sure?” he murmured.

“It spoke to me.”

My father nodded. “I’ll handle it.” He patted my knee assuredly.

I sat back on the cushions and drew my knees up to my chest. 

“It’s a miracle you survived such an attack,” my father said to Vanessa.

The shifter nodded slowly. “We have Callahan to thank for that. If he hadn’t been patrolling nearby, things could have gotten dicey. Dicier.”

_Patrol_ , I thought with an inaudible huff of laughter. I wondered who would kill me first if they found out I had given Callahan my blood: my father or Vanessa. I was slowly learning that Vanessa was not the biggest fan of vampires. It wasn't uncommon for shifters to dislike vampires to some extent, despite their role to protect them. A blood bond was just one more way for a vampire to control a shifter, and that way was absolute.

“Callahan,” my father repeated. “He didn’t shift to fight the sang.” It wasn’t a question, though Ethan and Vanessa both nodded. “I am looking for another collared shifter. I—“

“No!” I said quickly. My head snapped around and I stared up at my father with wide eyes.

His head swiveled almost comically slowly in my direction. He raised his eyebrows. I swallowed and ducked my head. I could feel Vanessa and Ethan’s gazes on me as well.

“He, um, he’s trying to become a guardian,” I murmured. “So he can’t—he shouldn’t be collared.”

My father chuckled slowly and coiled an arm around my waist. I stiffened. My teeth gritted together audibly. My father leaned forward to speak low in my ear.

“If you’re interested in collaring him, something as inane as his aspirations shouldn’t stop you,” he said. 

My eyes flickered to Ethan and Vanessa. More specifically to their knees since I couldn’t bring myself to see their expressions. Despite the pitch of my father's voice, the shifters would easily be able to hear him.

“Or would you rather wait for him to become a guardian so you can claim him then?” my father continued.

“I don’t know,” I said quietly. 

“Think on it.” My father squeezed my hip. “And claim him quickly, or I just might take him for myself.”

* * *

“This is your complete reports,” Morgan said. The guardian leaned against the head mistress’s desk as she rifled through the bundles of paper Callahan and Vanessa had provided her. She had already read through them and was supplying them only with a cursory glance now.

“Yes, ma’am,” Vanessa said with a curt nod. She plucked absent-mindedly at a stray thread on the sling that cradled her right arm. It had been less than twenty-four hours since the attack, and her injuries were far from healed. Because of this, she would be off-duty for quite some time, and she wasn't looking forward to the prospect of inactivity. Her gaze flickered to the head mistress who sat at her desk behind Morgan.

Eve Pryer matched Morgan in pragmatism even when dealing with shifters, which was a rare quality in vampires. This didn’t change the fact that she was downright terrifying. The right half of her face was swathed in a leather mask. Rumor had it a sanguine had bit a chunk out of her cheek. Surviving that testified to a terrifying level of power. Her remaining visible eye was also a blood-red, which was rare despite how human fantasies depicted vampires. Her frosty white locks matched the pallor of her skin and were pulled back in a loose braid that snaked down her back to her waist.

“So neither of you encountered evidence that the sanguine was being piloted,” Morgan continued.

“Piloted?” Vanessa said. She glanced hurriedly at Callahan who sat in a matching leather armchair to her own. His confusion also matched her own.

Callahan frowned and shook his head slowly. “No, ma’am.” Confusion was evident in the questioning tone of his voice.

“Necromantic powers are practically—“ Vanessa tossed her hands around in search of an adequate word—“ _extinct._  And controlling a sang that old is just impossible.”

“Lord Samirillian filed his own report,” Morgan continued.

“Lucian did?” Callahan said with a confused tilt of his head.

“His father,” Morgan corrected. “On Lucian’s behalf. Apparently the sang spoke to Lucian.”

“That’s impossible,” Vanessa said with an earnest shake of her head. “He was probably hallucinating from the shock or…something.”

“If that sanguine was being piloted, then a vampire sent it to attack the mansion,” Callahan said slowly.

“To attack Lucian.” The head mistress’s voice was as icy as her appearance. She steepled her fingers in front of her face and studied to perfectly manicured nails that crowned them. “A necromancer would explain why that sanguine was so hellbent on breaking the door down. A mindless sanguine always chooses the path of least resistance. This sanguine, on the other hand, had a very particular objective in mind. Or rather, its pilot did.”

“This is Lord Samirillian’s conclusion, as well as our own,” Morgan said. “He is concerned for his son’s safety even within the confines of the Academy." If there was one thing that peeved Morgan—and actually there were many things—it was someone doubting the safety of the Academy. "Because of this he has asked for a shifter to guard Lucian until we can puzzle out what’s afoot here.”

Vanessa made a face. If she had her way, she wouldn’t go anywhere near Lucian again. Not only did he use blow jobs as currency, but he also drank his own blood. In summation he functioned to represent everything Vanessa despised in vampires: hypocritical sex maniacs with terrible taste in sustenance.

“Callahan,” Morgan continued, “I understand that several rumors regarding you and Lucian have graced the campus, but I consider you the best fit for his bodyguard.”

“I,” Callahan said hesitantly. “I don’t feel entirely comfortable with that. Vanessa would be a better choice. She’s a guardian.”

“Hey, don’t throw me under the bus,” Vanessa muttered under her breath. She folded her arms and glowered at the floor. "Lucian is all yours. I had my fill at the banquet."

“Unfortunately your comfort cannot be taken into consideration,” Morgan said. “Lord Samirillian requested that you be Lucian’s bodyguard. Even if he hadn’t, you would be a better choice than Vanessa; you already share classes and the like with Lucian. If he catches wind we have someone tailing him, he’ll try to lose them or even leave campus just to spite us.”

_Because he’s a petulant git,_ Vanessa thought at the same time that Callahan said, "That sounds like something Lucian would do."

“If he does make any attempt to leave campus, you are to stop him by any means necessary.”

“So I can use force on him,” Callahan said. “A rational conversation doesn’t do much in the way of convincing him of anything.”

“Yes,” Eve Pryer said quietly, “you are allowed to use force on him. I’m sorry for whatever inconvenience this creates with regards to your training, but consider it good practice for when you become a guardian.”

“That’s a big when,” Callahan murmured, his eyes dropping to the floor.

“Don’t play humble, Cal,” Vanessa said, giving his arm a light punch. “It’s not cute.”

“Vanessa is right,” Morgan agreed, "not regarding cuteness, but rather humility. You took out that sanguine without shifting. It’s clear you have the strength to become a guardian.”

“I couldn’t have done it without Vanessa’s help.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m amazing. We all already know that,” Vanessa said with a dry laugh.

“When are you thinking of taking the guardian exam, Callahan?” the head mistress asked. 

“I’m not sure yet, ma’am,” Callahan said in a low voice. He laced his fingers together and stared down at them. “I’m thinking by the end of the school year.”

Morgan opened her mouth to speak, but Eve Pryer held up a hand. Morgan shut her mouth with a pinched frown. Neither woman was facing the other. Vanessa chalked up their eery telepathic abilities to the fact that Morgan had been Eve Pryer's guardian for the last twenty six years.

“That will be all,” the head mistress said with a nod.

The shifters took the nod as the clear dismissal that it was and left the room. They walked in silence down the long, column-lined corridor that led away from the mistress’s office. When they reached the end of the hall and began to descend the steps to the first floor, Vanessa spoke:

“Why are you so worried about taking the guardian exam? Do you think you’ll fail?”

“I don’t know,” Callahan answered. “I just…I don’t feel ready.”

“Morgan’s right that you’re strong enough to be a guardian, but the exam—it’s more psychological than physical. Is that what worries you?” She looked up at Callahan. 

He nodded slowly. His gaze was fixed on the floor as they crossed the hall. They left the administration building and started across the quad in the direction of the shifter cottage. 

“At least bodyguarding Lucian doesn’t entail going everywhere he does,” Vanessa said as she elbowed Callahan in the side. “You should thank your lucky stars for that.”

“You two seemed to be getting along at the banquet,” Callahan said, “or were you just putting up a good front?”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong,” Vanessa said with a shake of her head. “He was great company at the banquet. It was when we left so he could blow some Royal vamp his dad’s age that the evening started to go downhill.”

“He what?” Callahan said, cutting Vanessa a confused glance.

“He blew this Syr fellow in exchange for Syr agreeing to one of Lord Samirillian’s business deals,” Vanessa explained. She didn’t in the least feel bad about revealing the extracurricular that Lucian had partaken in at the banquet. Vampires were well-known for sneering at collared shifters and calling them whores. Lucian was no different from these vampires, and yet here he was supplying his mouth for some vamp in exchange for the fulfillment business arrangement. That being said, Lucian had objected to his father’s desires to collar Callahan, and he himself didn’t want to collar Callahan. All the same, Vanessa always turned her nose up at the sexual proclivities of vampires. 

“Lu and I aren’t in some sort of monogamous relationship,” Callahan said, “or any sort of relationship for that matter. He can sleep with who ever he wants.”

“You weren’t too thrilled when he and that Finny kid hooked up,” Vanessa pointed out.

“That was because there had already been that rumor about me and him having sex. That pissed me off on principle. And I didn’t care that they’d hooked up—which I know now Lucian didn’t even want to do—I cared that the kid had marked him.”

Vampires didn't considering biting each other as carrying the same weight as shifters did. Marking in shifter relationships denoted monogamy, ownership, love. Though vampires didn't hold biting each other in the same regard, it was still a rare thing to do.

“Lucian told you he was forced?” Vanessa said.

“Yeah. Even if you do think he’s a slut or something,” Callahan said, “ you can’t deny the fact that he’s conscientious of others, even shifters.”

“Alright, he’s a conscientious slut, but that doesn’t mean I have to like him,” Vanessa shot back. “He drank his fucking blood for Christ’s sake. How sick is that?”

“He was injured, and didn’t have many choices. Or would you have rather he drank your blood?”

“Why not yours?” Vanessa shot back. She knew she was being cantankerous for the sake of being cantankerous, but she didn’t like how much credit Callahan was giving Lucian. 

“That definitely wasn’t an option,” Callahan said in a cold voice.

Vanessa glanced at him with quirked eyebrows. Only collared shifters partook in blood-letting for the sake of their vampire. It wasn’t uncommon for uncollared shifters to be vehemently against the idea, but something about the sharpness in Callahan’s tone gave her the sense that he was even more personally against the idea than was typical. Perhaps it had to do with his mother. There was a rumor going around that Callahan’s mother had worked at a shifter-brothel that catered to vampires. This would explain why he was prickly toward the idea of being a vamp's blood bag.

Vanessa shrugged. It wasn’t her business and she didn’t particularly care one way or the other, but if Callahan didn’t want to put out that way for vampires he couldn’t expect her to.

By now they had reached the edge of the quad and were descending a steep pathway to where the shifter cottage was nestled at the edge of the woods. Vanessa allowed the conversation to taper out. She was still curious about Callahan’s pseudo relationship with Lucian. She couldn’t quite warp her head around why Callahan would want to risk his reputation for the chance to get with Lucian. Maybe Lucian was a great lay. There seemed to be no shortage of a vampires who wanted to sleep with him; he’d even caught the eye of a few shifters, but none with aspirations like Callahan’s. Perhaps the reason Callahan was worried about taking the guardian exam had to do with his attachment to Lucian? And perhaps Vanessa was reading far too much into this and she should just wash her hands of the whole thing.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i might have been a touch optimist saying i would post with some regularity but i'm vacation this week and then going to a con tomorrow through sunday. after that hopefully i'll have lots of time to write! i'm so glad people are continuing to enjoy the story!

I glowered fixedly at the wall. This had been the majority of my view for the last three days. Intermittently I would roll onto my back or opposite side, but for the most I lay on my left side. My right shoulder was more or less healed by now, but it was still a bit sore from its encounter with the sanguine.

I myself was still a touch rattled by the aforementioned encounter. I had come across sanguines before, but not as old and gnarly looking as that fellow. If Callahan hadn’t shown up, I would have had to take matters into my own hands, and that was always meant to be left as a last resort. 

On top of that I had certainly never crossed paths with a piloted sang. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that I had been targeted during that attack. It would take a genius to figure out why on earth that was the case. I could think of absolutely no reason why someone with the power to pilot such an old sang would send it after me. Sure, my family was Royal, but we were far too removed from the line of succession to get tangled up in throne politics. If someone had a grudge against my father—and I didn’t blame them if they did—they would have had ample opportunity to take it up with him since he had been in attendance at that party as well. 

Another possibility had presented itself to me over the course of my musings: someone could have caught wind of just how powerful Samrillian blood was—especially my own. I couldn’t fathom how this could be the case since our blood was so closely guarded.

I groaned loudly and sat up. My mind had been racing around in this same circle for the last three days, and honestly I was sick of it. I was also sick of this room, and not eating, and even not talking to people, though my version of talking was usually snide remarks in response to unwanted sexual advances from my classmates. All-in-all, I needed a change.

I wasn’t in any academic trouble even though I had missed half a week of classes. Bedrest hadn’t been required of me, but it hadn’t been advised against either. Because of this, I had been excused from my classes. 

It was about eleven at night now. Classes had gotten underway three hours ago, but, hey, better late than never. I showered, dressed, and combed my wet hair back in a tight bun. I hadn’t had time to dye it back to the depressingly bland brown I had sported before, but I’d get on that sometime this week. My heritage’s renowned starlight-colored hair was far from my favorite feature.

I left the door with my book-bag slung haphazardly over my shoulder. Despite spending sixty two hours in bed, I had barely slept a wink. Because of this, a huge yawn split my face as I meandered across the quad to the dinning hall. It was lunchtime now since my primping had taken such a long time.

The dinning hall had never been a favorite location of mine. There were too many people and too many of them irritated the hell out of me. On top of that, tonight was one of the unfortunate occurrences when I was something of a spectacle in the dinning hall.

Since I hadn’t emerged from my room after I had returned to campus, there had been ample opportunity for absolutely absurd rumors to spread about my involvement in the banquet fiasco. So many of the students, both shifter and vampire, had been present at Hemsworth’s party that word of the sanguine attack had spread like an STI through the student body. Morgan, who had debriefed me over a curt email earlier in the week, had explained that the existence of that absolute dinosaur of a sanguine was not common knowledge. That being said, my self-ostracizing after the banquet stirred up plenty of questions, and people loved making up their own answers.

After grabbing a tray of food and unsuccessfully ignoring the burning gazes of classmates, I turned to face the tables and to hopeful locate an empty one. I also hoped that the blatant irritation on my face, which was a result of the constant staring, would scare off anyone who wanted to stick their nose in my business.

I should have known one person in particular would not take my face as incentive not to call out to me. 

Roland’s arm draped over my shoulder in an annoyingly familiar fashion. I groaned loudly and glanced up at him as I continued toward a sparsely populated table in the far corner of the dinning hall. Roland traipsed along beside me with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Long time no see, Lucian,” he said.

“Fuck off, Roland,” I grumbled. I reached the table and tossed my tray onto it. “I’m really not in the mood for your bullshit.” I dropped into a chair.

Roland sat down beside me and spread his arms over the back of my chair and the empty one beside him.

“I just wanted to see how you’re holding up,” he said. His tone belied any sincerity, as did his impish grin. All the same, there was a glint in his eyes that suggested he might have actually been concerned about me, in the vaguest, most self-serving way possible; this was Roland we were talking about.

“I’m fine,” I said. I couldn’t deny the questioning tone that entered my voice. I was by no means questioning whether or not I was fine; I was, in so far as physicality was concerned. I was still more than a little confused and nervous about the 'why' of what had happened. Rather, my questioning tone had to do with the fact that I was having an actually decent conversation with Roland.

“That’s good,” Roland purred. “I was lonely this weekend.” Roland slipped an arm around my waist and leaned close to my ear. “I was hoping you could keep me company tonight.”

Good. There was the Roland I knew and hated. I slid my fork under the table, adjusted my grip, and jammed the prongs into his thigh. Roland stifled a yelp. His arm recoiled and his hands cupped the fork that stuck out of his leg. I had already returned my hand to the table beside my tray.

“I’m in a terrible mood, Roland, and your mere presence is making it ten times worst. Let alone the shit that comes out of your mouth.”

Roland grunted quietly as he yanked the fork out of his thigh. He placed it on the table with a disparaging grimace. Wiping the expression from his face, he turned a grin in my direction.

“You’re so cute when you play hard to get.” He swooped in and pecked me quickly on my cheek.

A disgusted noise emerged from the back of my throat. Roland got to his feet and left me in peace—though with a much smaller appetite. I was happy to see there was a slight limp in his gait as he departed.

Despite the dent that Roland’s comment had put in my appetite, I still scarfed down some food. The activity of eating functioned to stave off the inevitable: finding Callahan and having yet another Uncomfortable Conversation. The blood bond had worn off by now, which was a huge relief. As far as I was concerned, we never had to talk about that ever again. What was forefront on my mind, and the topic I would have to broach with Callahan, was what my father had said on the plane. 

My father got what he wanted. Always. Without question. One way or the other. I was similar to him in this way—and thankfully that was where our similarities ended as far as I was concerned. If he wanted Callahan as a guardian after he took the exam, then my father would have him. In more ways than one, which made me want to power chunder all over the dinning hall floor. However, if I claimed Cal as my own guardian, my father would respect that. 

I had toyed with this thought at the banquet: having Callahan as my personal guardian after he passed the examination. I wasn't moralistically opposed to having a guardian in the way that I was to collaring a shifter. Maybe Callahan would even _want_ to be my guardian. We didn’t abhor each other’s company and as long as we didn’t get into more dicey situations that only blood bonds could save us from, I was sure we’d be just fine. He was also my go-to source of blood right now.

But maybe this situation was only temporary. Maybe after passing the examination, Callahan had grandiose aspirations to be a guardian at the vampire court. Not that my father gave a rat’s ass about shifters’ aspirations. He’d snatch up Callahan the second he passed the examination if I didn’t, aspirations or no aspirations

I released a grating sigh to rouse myself from this cyclical thought process. At the end of the day it would be in everyone’s best interest if Callahan became my guardian. And so it was decided: Callahan _would_ be my guardian. 

I left the dinning hall with a new bout of determination—that I wouldn’t be able to put to any use until the end of the night. Since I had made a public appearance in the dinning hall, I would be expected to attend my after-midnight classes.

One such class was my magic class, at which Callahan was present. I stuck to the back of the classroom and ignored the proceedings as usual. I was hyperaware of Callahan lurking in the back of the room. This had nothing to do with any residual connection from the blood bond, of course. Instead his scent, my crippling sexual attraction to him, and my anxiety regarding our future conversation drew my attention to him.

I did my best to ignore him by doodling idly in my notebook. My classmates had broken off into pairs by now to practice summoning their elemental powers. There was an awkward trio in the classroom somewhere since I wasn't participating, but my lack of participation was nothing new; everyone knew I didn’t have an ounce of elemental ability.

The teacher, Ms. Hawkins, made her way to the back of the room where I was hunkered over my notebook. She handed me a book on advanced elemental manipulation, informing me that I would get at least something out of this class. It wasn’t unusual for her to supply me with supplementary readings since I didn’t participate in the hands-on activities. 

I stared at the first paragraph of the book for the remaining hour of the class. I think I ended up falling asleep with my eyes open. The clanging of the bell announcing the end of class sent me almost a foot out of my chair. 

My remaining classes were just as tedious as the magic class. I managed to keep my eyes open for all of them, but my level of consciousness was once again questionable. When the final bell had rung, I left the academic building with an exaggerated yawn. My lack of sleep the last few days was starting to catch up on me. 

Thankfully, the walk to the shifter cabin was pretty straightforward and I could trust my feet to do the job. When I reached the lone building nestled at the edge of the woods that surrounded the Academy, I knocked amicably on the door. This was at substantial odds to the last time I had announced my presence at the cottage. 

A guardian I vaguely recognized pulled the door open a few minutes later. She was tall with spiky auburn hair and twinkling green eyes. She had a jovial expression on her round face and this didn’t fluctuate despite finding a vampire on her doorstep.

“Hey, how can I help you?” she said. Her voice held a lilt of an accent that I didn’t recognize. 

“Is, is Callahan here?” I asked hesitantly. For whatever bizarre and entirely stupid reason, I had been expecting Vanessa, Lionel, or Callahan himself to answer the door. I should have known better considering the fact that _all_ of the Academy’s guardians lived here, except for Morgan.

“He’ll be back in a bit,” the shifter said. She folded her arms across her chest. The tight green long-sleeve she wore revealed the soft curve of her breasts, as well as powerfully broad shoulders and bulging biceps. “You can wait in the living room for him.”

“Thanks,” I said. I stepped over the threshold slowly.

“I’m Sam, by the way,” the shifter said as she led me down the entry hall to the living room.

“Lucian,” I mumbled. 

Sam chuckled quietly. I got the feeling she’d already known who I was. She gestured to the couch and I sat gingerly on the edge of the cushion. Sam exited the room and I was left to my own devices. I gazed around the room. The walls were lined from floor to ceiling with bookshelves. Only a few breaks in the shelves allowed for small, square windows to give a glimpse of the budding dawn. The room was littered with seemingly random objects: a few globes; some animal statues; a statue that honestly looked like a vagina but probably boasted itself as modern art; a bong or a weird empty vase I honestly wasn't sure; a fish tank lacking a fish. It was a cozy if eccentric room and I once again found myself wanting to move into the shifter cottage. 

My perusal of the room was interrupted by Sam’s return. She carried a tray, which was laden with all the strappings of tea time. She moved with a willowy grace to the coffee table and sat down the tray.

“You didn’t have to make all this for me,” I said. I scooted over a touch on the couch to make room for her.

“I already had a pot on,” she explained as she took a seat beside me, “and my mother would be rolling in her grave if I didn’t play the perfect hostess.” She filled the tea cups and held one out to me. “Sugar? Milk? Honey?”

“This is fine,” I said, taking the cup from her. “Thank you.”

She nodded as she set about filling her own cup with all of the above. She finished ladling sugar into her cup and stirred the concoction with the tiny sugar spoon. 

We sat in what I found to be decidedly awkward silence, but Sam seemed content with simply sipping her tea. After another moment of holding the tea cup close to my face and letting the steam waft over me, I finally followed suit. The tea was sweet at first before an aftertaste of bitterness took over my palette. My face twisted in surprise, though I wasn't entirely put off by the taste.

“It has a weird aftertaste,” I said, taking another sip to confirm this.

“Oh, that’s the alcohol,” Sam said with a shrug.

I choked around my next swallow and snorted a droplet of the laced tea out of my nose. Sam unleashed a raucous howl of laughter. I quickly wiped away the tea that had been evicted through my nostril. I stared at Sam with bulging eyes as she continued to guffaw for a solid thirty seconds. Okay, it couldn't have been  _that_ funny.

“Are you spiking guests’ drinks again, Sam?” 

My eyes flickered to the door of the living room. Callahan stood in doorway with a bemused expression on his face. He shook his head slowly as he stared down at Sam. Sam’s laughter died to soft chuckle. She wiped away a tear and huffed a final breath of laughter.

“You shouldn’t drink or eat anything Sam gives you,” Callahan said, looking over at me

“Cal is an absolute straight edge,” Sam explained, “and trusts me about as far as he can throw me.”

“Hey, I must trust you a lot then,” Callahan pointed out.

“It was nice to meet you, Lucian,” Sam said, patting me on the knee. “Thanks for entertaining me. I’ll let you and Cal get to doing whatever you came to do.” She winked at me.

I pursed my lips as a flush flooded my cheeks. I set down the tea cup and rose from the couch. I heard Callahan sigh loudly as I crossed the room to him. 

“Let’s go upstairs,” he said when I was level with him. 

I nodded, though I decided not to look at him until I was done blushing.

“Have fun you two!” Sam called after us. 

Callahan didn’t humor her with a response as he led the way upstairs. We walked in silence to his room. He opened the door for me and I moved inside. Already this visit to his room was going a lot more pleasantly than the last one.

“You can have a seat wherever,” Callahan said as he followed me inside and shut the door.

I moved to the bed since that provided the most comfortable surface to sit on. Callahan took the desk chair and sat on it backwards, facing me. He braced his arms on the back of the chair. I finally allowed myself to meet his gaze. My cheeks were still a touch rosy from Sam’s comments. 

“How are you doing?” Callahan asked, nodding to my shoulder.

“Fine,” I said with a shrug to demonstrate I had mobility back. “It’s pretty much completely healed. How’s Vanessa?”

“She’s almost healed too,” Callahan said with a nod. 

“Cool,” I said with a slow nod.

“So,” Callahan said with a shrug, “what’s up?” This was the polite version of asking me what the heck I was doing here.

“Uh, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about,” I said. I suddenly found myself much more interested in playing with the button of my blazer than looking at Callahan. Now that I was actually face-to-face with the shifter I found myself lacking in the courage department to broach the subject. Maybe I should have chugged Sam’s special tea.

“The blood bond has worn off,” Callahan said. “It actually came in handy at the mansion. That’s not to say I want another one.”

“Same,” I said with a small, decidedly awkward chuckle.

“Was something else on your mind?” Callahan asked.

“Yeah, there was,” I said. I heaved a sigh and raised my eyes to Callahan’s. I just needed to suck it up and tell him straight out what I wanted. “I have decided,” I said as boldly as I could muster, “that you will be my guardian after you pass the examination.” I nodded, feeling quite proud with myself for having gotten the words out in a non-stuttering manner.

Callahan frowned. His eyes narrowed and a small glint of light emanated deep in his irises. 

“You’ve decided,” he said in a low, chilling voice.

I cocked my head to the side and gave a frown of my own, though mine was a lot more confused than his angry one.

“Well, yes,” I said slowly. “Being my guardian would be a good position for you and, like…“ _My father won’t be able to fuck you or fuck you up._

“It must be nice to be able to make these sort of decisions without consulting the other party,” Callahan said coldly. He rose from his chair and stepped around it. 

I swallowed as he loomed over me. I wanted to speak but the angry gleam in his eyes stunned me into silence.

“What level of entitlement do you function under to be making this sort of sweeping decision?” Callahan continued as he took a step toward me. He raised an eyebrow, expecting an answer.

“I, I just…” I blinked up at him. I didn’t understand why he was so angry with me. Everyone would win if he became my guardian: I’d have my blood; he’d have a great position as a guardian; we could even sleep together without raising any eyebrows. Wins all around. “I want you to be my guardian,” I finally managed.

Callahan snorted and a derisive sneer spread across his face. “And I guess that’s all that matters in order for the decision to be made.”

“Wh-what?” I asked quietly. “I don’t understand.” I stared up at him. My brain had lost all ability to process the situation. I couldn’t think of anything with those angry and almost sad green eyes looking down at me.

Callahan stared at me for a long moment. Finally he closed his eyes and released a heavy sigh. When he opened his eyes again, they didn’t hold a hint of emotion. He gestured weakly to the door.

“Go,” he said.

“What?” I asked, my voice cracking in an entirely unbecoming way.

“Just go,” he said quietly. 

Gritting my teeth, I got up from the bed. Anger bubbled in my chest as I stalked out of the room. I made sure to slam the door with crippling force. The wood split down the middle with a satisfying crack.

I marched down the hall and down the stairs. Sam was leaving the kitchen as I reached the foot of the stairs. 

“Take it that didn’t go well,” she observed as a stormed over to the door.

I flipped her off as I yanked open the front door.

“Please don’t break that one too,” she said.

I broke that one too.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry these updates haven't actually been frequent :'0 i've been depression sleeping until 1 in the afternoon most days that doesn't lend itself well for finding time to write

Callahan leaned against the gym wall. His eyes were on a skirmishing pair of students, but he wasn’t really seeing them. It had been almost sixteen hours since that disaster of a conversation with Lucian and his mind had been utterly consumed with thoughts of the vampire since then. Luckily, he had gotten over most of his anger, but a keen sense of frustration still gnawed in his chest. 

It didn’t take a certified psychiatrist to figure out that Lucian was the absolute epitome of entitlement. He was a Royal vampire after all so that sort of thing was to be expected. Despite this, during the time that Callahan had gotten to know him, Lucian had actually displayed some scrap of empathy toward others. He had a strange relationship with society's treatment of shifters that prevented him from collaring a shifter. He had even put down Holland on Callahan’s behalf. Callahan had never witnessed a vampire putting down a shifter. Euthanizations were shifter business and vampires tended to ignore that such a thing even happened. 

Suffice it to say, Lucian had started to present himself as being not-completely-self-obsessed. This had certainly changed when he had declared that Callahan would be his guardian. _Declared_ , hadn’t even asked if Callahan wanted to be his guardian. Callahan had thought they had an understanding. Lucian wouldn’t collar him and Callahan would never be collared. Lucian had to understand that even being a guardian gave the vampire some sense of ownership over the shifter. Instead, Lucian had just decided all on his own that this was how things would be. The vampire had even seemed _proud_ of himself for making this assertion. He had then had the absolute gaul to be baffled when Callahan had gotten mad at him. His confusion had been so genuine he had almost looked adorable in his befuddlement. It certainly took a unique level of entitlement to be confused in that moment. 

A gentle, hesitant hand laid itself on Callahan’s arm. He blinked and glanced around. One of the student instructors was smiling with awkward hesitance up at him. He had a thatch of messy blond hair and a cheerful face. Luke was a senior at the Academy and as such helped instruct the younger shifters during training like these. Callahan looked around the gym; the skirmishing pairs of students were cleaning up the gym and the other instructors were standing together chatting amicably. 

“Callahan?” Luke said. “Class is over.” 

“Sorry,” Callahan said with a shake of his head. “How did it go?”

“Good,” Luke said with a nod. He dropped his hand awkwardly to his side. “You alright? You were totally out of it—and looked a little pissed.” Luke gave an awkward laugh. 

Callahan chuckled quietly. He wasn’t surprised that thoughts of Lucian had elicited such an expression. 

“Fine,” he said. He sighed heavily. “There’s just a lot going on right now.” Speaking of which—Callahan checked his watch. Lucian would be getting out of his last class for the night about now, which meant Callahan would have to go find him and skulk after him for the remainder of the night. Luckily, Lucian tended to be about as social as a stool and would find his way to his dorm not long after his classes ended. 

“Because of the sang attack?” Luke asked. 

“Ah, yeah,” Callahan said with a nod. His stomach twisted in a knot of guilt. The sang attack should have been forefront on his mind, but instead here he was only thinking about Lucian.

“Will—do you think…” Luke trailed off. He rubbed the back of his neck and released a small sigh. “Do you think there will be an attack on the Academy?” he finally asked.

Callahan frowned. His gaze flickered to the students who had just finished cleaning up the gym. They headed toward the locker rooms, talking amicably. The instructors were beginning to leave as well. Though they smiled and laughed as they conversed, there was a pronounced stiffness to their shoulders that spoke to the stress the events at the estate had elicited.

“It’s always a possibility,” Callahan said as he looked back at Luke. “One that we should always be prepared for and especially after what happened at the estate.”

Luke bit his lip as he gave a small nod.

“Don’t worry,” Callahan said, setting a hand on the shifter’s shoulder. “If anything happens, we’ll deal with it like we did at the estate.” There had been no casualties at the estate, for which Callahan was eternally grateful. He didn’t want to have to bury another friend so soon after burying Holland. 

Luke blushed as Callahan gave his shoulder a small squeeze. 

“I know I should always be ready for that sort of thing,” Luke said in a low voice, “but I’m not exactly excited by the prospect of a sang attack, you know?”

“Oh, I know,” Callahan said with a chuckle. He gave Luke’s shoulder another squeeze before dropping his hand to his side. “Can’t say I’m too excited myself…” Callahan’s voice drifted off as his eyes fell to the floor. His thoughts were pulled back to that room in the estate; of Lucian lying on the floor, blood in his perfect, starlit hair and horror twisting his visage. Callahan had no way of knowing which of his emotions were tied to the partial blood bond, but the sight of Lucian bloodied and bruised on the floor had filled him with more fear than anything else in the world had before.

A gentle hand rested on his shoulder. Callahan blinked and looked around. Luke stood before him, gazing up at him with soft eyes. The younger shifter cocked his head to the side.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked softly.

Callahan stared down at him. Either Luke was incredibly perceptive, or Callahan was letting his guard down around him. He didn’t particularly like either prospect, but Luke’s patient, earnest expression did help put him at ease. Callahan frowned slightly as he continued to stare down at the shifter.

Luke pushed up on his tiptoes and rested his lips lightly against Callahan’s. They were firm but hesitant. Callahan’s eyes widened. Luke’s tongue crept out slowly and pressed against Callahan’s lips. Luke jerked back and took a hurried step back. Callahan blinked at him before glancing hurriedly around the room. They were only in the gym, as he had expected. He doubted Luke would have done that with others present.

“S-sorry,” he stuttered. “I didn’t, I didn’t mean to. I just—sorry.” Luke’s voice flustered voice broke on the last word and his blush deepened. “I know you have a thing with Lucian, so I shouldn’t—I shouldn’t have.”

“I definitely don’t have a thing with Lucian,” Callahan said with a derisive chuckle.

“Really?” Luke breathed.

“Really,” Callahan said with a nod.

Luke shoved onto his tiptoes again and slammed his lips against Callahan’s. Callahan stumbled back against the wall with a gasp. Luke’s hand gripped the front of his shirt. His tongue darted between Callahan’s lips. Callahan groaned into the kiss. His hands flew out and caught hold of Luke’s hips. He dug his fingers into Luke’s sides, causing him to groan into Callahan’s mouth.

Luke pulled back from the kiss and pressed his lips against Callahan’s neck. He scraped his teeth against Callahan’s skin. Callahan gasped and his grip tightened on Luke’s hips.

“We shouldn’t do this here,” he murmured.

“Where do you wanna go?” Luke asked in a rough voice as he continued to kneed his teeth down Callahan’s neck.

“I have to—“ Callahan groaned as Luke’s teeth scraped over his collar bone. “I have a few things to finish up before morning.”

“Mm,” Luke said with a slow nod. His hands flattened against Callahan’s chest. “Want me to come over after you’re done?” He pulled his lips from Callahan’s skin and looked up at him. His tongue ran slowly over his lips. 

Callahan’s jaw tightened, as did his grip on Luke’s hips, causing the shifter to gasp quietly. Callahan didn’t generally partake idle hook-ups, but Luke was hot and would provide ample distraction from tedious thoughts of Lucian.

“Yeah,” Callahan said in a low voice. “Come over at around seven.”

* * *

“What’s with the face?” Sam asked as she dropped back against the wall next to Vanessa.

“What face?” Vanessa asked. 

“The face that’s on your face,” Sam said. “The one that might get you an assault charge filed because honestly you look like you want to smash Lucian’s head into the floor.” She reached out and poked Vanessa in the cheek.

Vanessa scowled as she pulled her icy gaze away from Lucian. Vanessa didn’t generally oversee vampire self-defense classes, but she had somehow gotten roped into this one as a substitute for Callahan, who was debriefing Morgan about his duties as Lucian’s bodyguard. 

“To be honest, I am considering smashing his head into the floor,” Vanessa muttered. 

“What did he do this time?” Sam asked with a sigh. 

“A couple days ago he told Callahan that Callahan would become his guardian after he passed the examination,” Vanessa spat in annoyance. “ _Told_ him, just like that. Like Callahan doesn't even get a say in such a thing.”

“And Callahan rejected him?” Sam asked.

“Of course,” Vanessa said with a bitter laugh. “He has better things to do than babysit that brat.” Though, that was what he’d been saddled with the last few days, but once he took the examination, Callahan could have what ever job he wanted; he could work at the goddamn vampire court and that would be worlds better than looking after Lucian's bratty ass.

“Hm, no wonder Lucian went on a door-breaking spree at the cottage,” Sam said with a slow nod.

“Fucking git,” Vanessa muttered.

“It’s cool,” Sam said with a shake of her head. “I emailed him and he’s paying for the damages.”

“Seriously?” Vanessa said with a snort. “You just emailed him? What did you say? ‘Hey, pay us back for the damages you little dick?’”

“I opted for a more a diplomatic route,” Sam said with a shrug. “He wired about twice as much as I asked for.”

“Of course he did.” Vanessa shook her head derisively as she looked back at Lucian. “He’d jump at a chance to flaunt his wealth.”

“Poor kid can’t win with you, can he?” Sam said. “He told me to use the rest of the money to get a fish to put in the tank in the library because it’s creepy that it’s just an empty tank. Guess he didn’t realize we have a lizard in there.” 

“Dumbass,” Vanessa muttered as she continued to glower across the gym at Lucian.

The vampires were splitting into pairs to start practice. As was typical for Lucian, he found himself partnerless. Considering his ability to decapitate a sanguine with a fucking stiletto, Vanessa doubted he needed any extra self-defense training. One of the student-instructors, Luke, moved over to Lucian to partner with him. 

“How’s your arm healing, by the way?” Sam asked. “I heard it was hanging on by a mere ligament when you got into the infirmary.”

“Well that is a gross, _gross_ exaggeration,” Vanessa said. “It—“

Lucian springing into action cut her off. His leg lashed out and swiped Luke’s legs out from under him. The shifter yelled in surprise. Lucian slammed his palm against his chest and rocketed Luke into the floor with enough force to elicit a cry of pain from the shifter. Lucian’s face was twisted with anger; his fangs pressed against his lower lip; his eyes flashing yellow.

* * *

I stared at nothing in particular as Holt droned on about the defense combination we would be learning today. I hadn’t slept more than three hours the last few nights combined. The memory of Callahan’s angry, betrayed eyes were burned into my retina. Despite the hours of wakefulness, which had left me with ample of time to mull things over, I had yet to figure out why Callahan had lost his cool on me. Okay, that hadn’t been him losing his cool exactly. It wasn’t like I had mentioned his mom again, but he had certainly been less than pleased with me. It made no sense; I wanted him to be my guardian for _his_ sake. His alternative was to become my father’s guardian. I was an approximately one-hundred percent better choice than my father. Maybe I should have opened with the fact that Callahan had two options at his disposal—me or my father—but maybe he shouldn't have jumped down my throat within seconds of broaching the topic. He was a scary guy to talk to when it came to stuff like this and I had had to work up all my courage to say anything on the subject. On top of that, he knew full well we were on the same page where collaring was concerned. He also knew I had the power to blood bond him if I so chose, but had only done that as a last resort. Clearly he could trust me, so why didn’t he trust that I had an entirely good reason for wanting him to be my guardian.

“Dickhead,” I grumbled under my breath.

A small intake of breath alerted me to someone’s presence beside me. I glanced around. Bryan Clark, one of my self-defense classmates, was staring at me with round blue eyes. His face drained to an unnatural shade of pale. He quickly darted away from and begged another classmate to be his sparring partner. Whoops, he had probably been about to ask me to be his partner before I said that. Bryan was an amicable fellow and our only class together was this one so he didn’t know the extent of my loner tendencies. He also liked to partner with different people each class to change things up. What a decent guy; I should probably explain to him I wasn’t talking about him.

“Hey, Lucian.” 

I looked around quickly. I was really being assaulted on all sides this class. Luke, one of the instructor shifters for my class, was moving toward me. 

“Partnerless again?” he said as he cleared the last remaining paces between us.

“Surprise, surprise,” I muttered.

“We can pair up,” he offered.

“Cool,” I said, as I hooked a stray lock of hair that escaped my bun behind my ear.

“Actually can I—can I talk to you amount something?” Luke asked hesitantly. His fingers twisted together nervously.

“Uh, sure, what’s up?” 

“Well, I know…I know you and Callahan had a thing going for a little bit there,” Luke said, “and I don’t wanna, like, go behind your back or anything, so I thought you should just know that Cal and I…we hooked up.”

A steel hand seemed to twine around my throat. My blood grew cold; my fingers numb. My eyes widened in slow, dawning horror.

“Cal said it wouldn’t be a problem ‘cause you guys aren’t a thing, but I didn’t want you to think I was going behind your back ‘cause you’re, like…a vampire.” Luke muttered the last word and gave a tentative shrug. 

I drew in a long, trembling breath. I didn’t understand; I didn’t understand what was going on. It felt like my entire body had shut down. I couldn’t feel my fingers, my legs. I could barely breath and each breath felt like it was scraping cold nails down my throat. This made no sense. Callahan wouldn't...he  _couldn't_ be with anyone other than me. That's not how this fucking works.

“Are we cool?” Luke asked.

A long growl dragged off my lips. _Cool?_ How the fuck could we be cool? Where the fuck did he get off thinking I would be '''''cool''''' with this? With him touching what was mine?

“Luc—“

I snarled and my leg lashed out, clipping Luke’s out from under him. He yelped out in surprise as he fell backward. I slammed my palm into his chest and drove him into the floor. His arm twisted beneath him and a sickening crack filled my ears, followed by an eery cry of pain. My fingers wrapped in his shirt and I dragged his face close to mine as I crouched over him.

“If you ever, _ever_ touch what’s mine again, I will kill you,” I whispered. I could feel my fangs scraping over my bottom lip as I spoke. My eyes were burning yellow as I stared down at Luke’s terrified face.

I shoved him onto the floor and jerked to my feet. I heard someone shout furiously at me as I crossed the room. Pairs of vampires dispersed quickly in front of me. I reached the gym doors and slammed them open with my shoulder. 

I strode briskly down the corridor until I reached the exit of gymnasium. I shoved those doors open and spilled into the quad. Then I was running. I took off across the quad in a mindless dash. My body had overcome its immobility in the gym in favor of tearing across campus. Air tore through my lungs as I ran and my eyes stung from the cold wind whipping against my face. 

I reached the dormitory, yanked open the door, and raced upstairs. I took the steps three at a time, my fingertips pushing me further and further up the stairwell. I reached my room and hurled myself inside. I slammed into my bed and nosedived into the pillows.

I needed to process what had just happened, but all my mind could produce right now was a garbled mess of _whatthefuckwhatthefuckhe’sminewhatthefuckcallahnwhatthefuck_. Which did little to help me wade through the miasma of emotions that was engulfing my chest. One thing I could deduce with the utmost clarity was the fact that I was absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt _furious_ at Callahan. How dare he? How _fucking dare he_? Who the hell said he could hook up with someone other than me? A long growl left my throat and my hands curled into fists in the pillow. 

It took several minutes for my brain to stop sprinting through its succession of thoughts. When my thoughts had slowed to a crawl, I pulled my face away from my weirdly damp pillow and sat back on my heels. I suddenly felt utterly exhausted. It had been a long while since the last time my emotions had utterly imploded in my face.

I ran my hand carefully through my hair and pulled out the elastic. My hair spilled around my shoulders and I began untangling it with diligent fingers. Now that I had some semblance of control of myself and my thoughts weren't trampling each other, I could process what had happened. There was no question that power slamming Luke into the floor had been the overreaction of the century and would be chalked up as one of my more profoundly dickish moves. If anyone deserved to get smashed into the floor, it was Callahan. Or maybe me.

Definitely me. 

Maybe that would help me realize that I was the one entirely and utterly in the wrong here. I didn't own Callahan. He wasn't collared to me; we weren't mates so we didn't have to be monogamous.  Even though I was slowly coming to this realization, I was painfully aware of the fact that I wanted Callahan to be monogamous to me. Which just made me the biggest fucking hypocrite of the century.

The pounding of footsteps drew my attention slowly toward my door. The sound drew ever closer, but I only continued to stare listlessly at the door. Suddenly, it burst open and Callahan charged into my room. His eyes flashed a vibrant green as they fell on me. I scrambled back on the bed with a small gasp.

Callahan cleared the distance between the bed and the floor in a flash. His hand lanced out and he caught me by the neck. I whimpered in surprise and pain. He yanked me off the bed by my throat and slammed me against the wall. Pain shot up my back. My fingers scrabbled against his wrist as his hand tightened on my neck.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he hissed.

"Says the shifter who's pinning a Royal vampire to the wall by his fucking throat," I hissed in a guttural voice.

Callahan slammed his weight against my neck. I choked and my eyes rolled back in my skull. My feet kicked uselessly against Callahan's shins. I coughed desperately and scraped my nails over his arm.

"You broke his fucking arm," Callahan whispered. "He has three broken ribs and a fractured sternum."

My eyes widened and my feet stilled. I hadn't realized; I hadn't realized it had been that bad. I swallowed and my Adam's apple rubbed painfully against Callahan's hand. Callahan slid his hand up my throat slowly and clasped it around my jaw. His fingers dug into my cheeks. I groaned quietly as my neck was bent back.

"And what's this bullshit you're spilling about me being yours," Callahan continued. The muscles of his face shifted slightly as he barely clung to his human form.

"I'm —" My voice caught in my throat. Working my jaw against Callahan's crushing grip was horribly painful. "I'm sorry. I don't know —I don't know why."

Callahan's grip slackened slightly and his brows furrowed in confusion.

"I couldn't think," I breathed. "I just freaked out. I don't know why 'cause I know; I know I was being a hypocrite and I know I fucked up, but I couldn't stop myself. I just lost it on him. I was so mad."

"That's not an excuse," Callahan snapped, "and you had no right to be mad about something that had  _nothing_ to do with you. I'm not yours."

"Fucking —" My hands gripped Callahan's wrist and I twisted with unforgiving force.

He released me with a hiss of pain. I dropped to the floor. My knees buckled slightly, but I managed to keep my feet.

"I fucking know that," I snapped in a rough voice as I shoved Callahan away. "That doesn't mean I don't _want_ you to be mine."

"Just like you selfishly want me to be your guardian."

"That's because if you're not my guardian, my father said he'll make you his guardian. Do you wanna be a part of his sadistic perv menagerie of shifters?" I yelled up at Callahan. "I want you to be my guardian for your sake, you absolute dickface."

"And you did a great fucking job of making that clear when you _told_ me I would be your guardian," Callahan shot back. 

"I fucking—I was super fucking nervous to bring it up 'cause you're such a dick about vampire-shifter dynamics, so I messed up what I was trying to say."

"I'm a dick about vampire-shifter dynamics, is that it?" Callahan's face twisted in a scowl. "Then here's me being even more of a dick; I absolutely refuse to be under the control of a vampire in _any_ regard."

"Then why the fuck are you becoming a guardian? Go be a goddamn goat herder!"

Callahan snarled and took a step forward. I jerked away from the wall and pushed up on my tiptoes so we were practically nose-to-nose.

"You don't want to be my guardian because that'll give me the upper hand," I hissed. "Well, I don't exactly have a slew of people lining up to offer me their blood, so I guess I'm stuck with your annoying ass, which means we just gotta level the playing field between us, yeah?" I dropped onto my heels and spun around. I pushed my hands in my hair and scooped the locks onto the top of head, revealing the nape of my neck. "If you mark me...if you..., then you'll be my alpha. If you do that, then I'm yours, but you have to agree to be my guardian."

"Lucian," Callahan murmured. He stepped forward. His hand reached up and his fingers brushed the base of my neck, causing me to flinch slightly. "Does that even work between vampires and shifters?"

"I don't fucking know," I snapped, "but one of us has to be the adult about this and bite the bullet."

"You? The adult?" Callahan chuckled quietly. His breath stroked the back of my neck, causing me to gasp. "You're the one whose temper tantrum fractured someone's sternum."

"You gonna bite me, or not?" I said. A slight quiver in my voice spoke to my apprehension. 

"If we do this," Callahan breathed, "then you'll be my mark."

"And I get to make you my guardian."

"If this works."

"Hurry up and do it already so we can figure out if it will work."

Callahan's teeth scrapped lightly against the nape of my neck. A shudder ran down my spin. His hand slid over mine and he pushed my forehead against the wall. His other hand gripped my waist. 

"This will probably hurt," he said, and he sunk his teeth into the back of my neck.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for leaving me so many nice comments!! i really appreciate all the kind words

Pain ricocheted down my spinal cord as Callahan’s teeth dug deep into the flesh of my neck. I cried out and quickly bit down on the inside of my cheek. Hot, metallic blood filled my mouth. Callahan’s teeth remained lodged in my neck. His saliva mixed with my pooling blood. I ground my forehead against the wall, desperate to pull focus away from the back of my neck. I was no stranger to getting bitten, but the chemicals in Callahan’s saliva were mixing weirdly with my blood and making it feel like electric shots were spitting through my veins.

Callahan released his hold on my hands and dropped his hand to my back. His other hand slid up my back and gripped my shirt. I groaned and bowed my head more, arcing my neck against his mouth. His fingers curled and I felt his claws dig into my back. The fabric of my shirt strained under his grip and I heard a small tear.

My eyes flashed open as panic seized my throat. A confused garble of syllables that vaguely resembled ‘stop!’ fled my lips as I pushed back against Callahan. He stumbled back in surprise. His grip tightened on my shirt. He grunted in confusion against the back of my neck. 

My foot shot up and slammed against the wall. I shoved back from the wall. Callahan’s teeth released my neck. Our feet tangled together and we fell backwards. Callahan landed on the bed with a grunt and I dropped non-too-gracefully into his lap. I felt the fabric of my shirt tear open as Callahan yanked his hands to the side to catch his balance. I tried to lunge out of his lap, but he grabbed hold of my waist and my wrist. I released a small gasp of surprise as my chest pressed against my knees. My arm was twisted back rather painfully in Callahan’s grip. I felt the tatters of my shirt slip over my back. My entire body froze as cold dread clung to my chest.

“Sorry, did it hurt that mu—“ Callahan broke off with a small gasp. He released my wrist slowly and brought his hand to my back.

I hissed quietly. My fingers laced together in front of my face and I pressed my forehead against them. 

“Why?” Callahan began slowly. “Why are there bite scars around your spine?” His hand inched a little higher on my lower back, but he resisted the urge to trace the puckered scars.

“Some, some vampires like to feed from around the spine,” I murmured quietly. “‘Cause they like the idea that they can rip out someone’s spine during a feeding. Or something like that.”

Callahan’s grip tightened on my waist. His other hand slipped to my waist as well and he lifted me out of his lap. I straightened in surprise as he gently set me down on the bed beside me. 

“Sorry,” he said quietly. He slid off his loose gray hoodie and draped it over my shoulders. “I didn’t mean to rip your shirt open like that.”

I shrugged as I huddled under the fabric.

“Was trying to keep that from happening. Didn’t work out too great,” I mumbled.

“How does this feel?” Callahan asked as he pulled the hoodie down to examine the fresh wound on my neck.

“Weird,” I said. “It didn’t feel like getting bit by a vampire. I think it worked, like it felt like it was doing something.”

“Mm.” Callahan stood up. “Where’s your first aid kit?”

I gestured to my desk and he moved across the room.

“Top drawer,” I said.

He pulled open the drawer and grabbed the kit. Turning back around, he returned to the bed. He set the kit down beside me and opened it. I bowed my head and stared down at my clasped hands as Callahan began to gently clean the wound. Silence reigned between us.

When Callahan had finished bandaging the wound, he returned the first aid kit to my desk drawer. He turned around and leaned back against the desk.

“You’ll want to wear your hair down from now on,” he said as he folded his arms. “That’ll result in a pretty nasty scar.”

“Hence why it’s called marking,” I muttered under my breath. I slipped off his hoodie and pulled the remaining scraps of my shirt from my body. I slipped the hoodie back on and zipped it to my chin. 

“I’m assuming you want to keep the fact that you’re marked under the radar,” Callahan retorted. He arched his eyebrows.

“No, I thought my father would absolutely _love_ the idea. I’m going to phone him up right now.”

Callahan stared at me with wide, unblinking eyes. I met his gaze with a deadpan stare for a few moments before snorting loudly in laughter.

“I’m joking, dumbass. He’d kill me if he found out about this.” I shook my head as I released another dry laugh. I dropped back on my elbows and glowered down at my knees.

“So, speaking of your father, is he really interested in having me as a guardian?” Callahan asked.

“Yeah,” I said in a low voice. “He said he wouldn’t do anything if you became my guardian, but if not…” I shrugged. “He gets his way more than I do.”

“That’s surprising,” Callahan said with a low chuckle.

I allowed for a small smile. I had made the self-deprecating joke to help him feel a bit better about the prospect of my father making him into a guardian.

“I guess I should be thanking you then,” Callahan said dryly. “Since you saved me from the…'menagerie'.”

“Does that mean you’ll be my guardian?” I said as I looked up at him quickly.

“That was the condition for marking you,” Callahan said with a nod. "If that mark works, that is."

“How do we figure out if it worked?” I asked. 

“That shouldn’t be too difficult,” Callahan said. “We just need to give it some time to set.”

“How much time?” I grumbled as I wrinkled my nose at the prospect of having to be patient. 

“A week, I’d estimate,” Callahan said. He pushed away from the desk. “In the meantime keep going to class as normal, and drop by to see Luke at the infirmary to apologize.”

“Is that an alpha order?” I asked, arching my brow. 

“You’d know if that was an order,” Callahan said in a low voice, “and we both know you’d like it if it was.”

My face twisted into a scowl and I jerked my gaze away form him. Callahan chuckled softly and headed to the door, which had been left open this whole. We were lucky that all the Royals besides from Finny and myself were doing study abroad this semester, and Finny was too damn scared of me to stay in his room. If this hadn’t been the case, Callahan and I would have just put on quite the show.

“You do know,” Callahan said as he paused in the doorway, “this doesn’t mean we can’t hookup with other people. You aren’t a shifter so we're not actually mates; we don’t have to monogamous.”

“I know,” I said quietly, “and if this mark does stick and you find a shifter you want to mark, that’s fine too.” 

There was a long pause. I didn’t look at Callahan, but I could feel his gaze on the back of my neck. 

“Keep a low profile around shifters for the next few days. I’ll try to smooth things over, but none of them are going to go out of their way to be nice to you from here on out,” he finally said.

He seemed to be waiting for a reply, but I continued to sit mutely on the edge of the bed. Finally the door shut with a click. I groaned loudly and dropped back on the bed. I shoved the heels of my hands against my eyes until I could splashes of rainbow dancing across my vision. 

That had been…a lot. This whole night had been a lot. To think that I had done that much damage to Luke in my blind rage...I shook my head. I honestly felt really, _really_ bad about that, and it had been my intention to apologize to him even before Callahan had told me to. I couldn’t quite put my finger on why I’d lost my shit like that. The fury had been overpowering, animalistic, instinctual. Sure I had a temper, but it usually manifested in a sullen fashion, not nearly as violent.

Callahan was right in saying that the shifters would hate my guts from here on out. Sure, I had put down Holland on Callahan’s behalf and that had somewhat endeared me to the shifters, but I had just ruined all of that by slam dunking Luke into the floor of the gymnasium. And for the ridiculously petty reason that he and Callahan had hooked up. Callahan being an actual grown ass adult hadn’t slammed me into the floor after I’d hooked up with Syr. I wondered if he knew about Syr. I had a feeling Vanessa had told him. He and Vanessa were tight to an annoying extent. Considering Vanessa’s disgust toward my hooking up with Syr, she had probably complained in great detail to Callahan about the event.

I draped my arm over my eyes and gritted my teeth together. I needed to stop thinking about this. Things were sorted between Callahan and I, if the mark took. If it did then he’d become my guardian, which meant he wouldn’t be my father’s and I’d have a guaranteed blood supply. All was right in the world. 

Wallowing on my bed quickly lost its appeal after about fifteen minutes. I shoved off the bed and went to the bathroom to splash some water on my face. I still had plenty of classes tonight, but I didn’t have the slightest desire to attend any of them. Instead, I left the dormitory in the direction of the infirmary. I had the feeling that my presence there would not be welcomed with open arms, so I opted for collecting a few flowers on the way there from the bushes that lined the path. They could function as a peace offering; _look, I mean no harm. I have some shabby looking blossoms. All's good now._ Honestly I had no idea if what I had gathered were just weeds or actual flower-flowers. As long as they read as sorry-I-smashed-Luke-into-the-floor to anyone who saw them then I didn’t much care.

The infirmary and the gymnasium shared a building. The main doors opened too close to the gym for my liking, since there would be an all-shifter class in there by now. The last thing I needed was to walk in on a pack of shifters. Word of my manhandling Luke had probably spread through the campus by now. 

I went around the building to the back door, which opened closer to the infirmary. I entered and headed down the narrow corridor to an intersecting corridor, off of which stood the patient rooms. 

I didn’t have to put my keen sleuthing skills to the test to find Luke’s room. The nurse, a vampire of middle age, and the redhead shifter I recognized as a friend of Luke’s were standing by one of the doors. They were talking in low voices. From the sympathetic expression on the nurse’s face, the shifter needed some reassurances about her friend’s condition.

I leaned against the wall and waited for the pair’s conversation to wrap up. During this idle time, I took to examining the scuffed toes of my boots. I’d know all too well when the conversation ended because then the shifter would catch sight of me and honestly I couldn’t blame her if she came after me looking for blood.

She was surprisingly violence-free when she saw me. I heard a sharp gasp, followed by a low growl. I glanced up. The redhead seethed quietly as she marched down the hall toward me. The nurse looked decidedly nervous, but she simply remained passively by the door.

“The fuck you doing here,” the redhead demanded.

“Callahan told me I should come by to apologize,” I said in a low voice.

“Apologize?” she laughed. “Yeah fucking right.”

“These are my apology flowers,” I shot back, brandishing the bushel of buds at her.

“Are those—“ she paused and scrunched up her nose—“did you pick those from the fucking quad?”

“Well, yeah,” I said. “I don’t exactly have a surplus of flowers in my room, just waitin' around to be handed out.”

“Probably because you don’t make a whole bunch of apologies,” she snapped.

“I _don’t_.” 

The shifter took a sharp step backward. Her eyes widened as she met my steely yellow gaze. She swallowed and nodded slowly.

“I’ll be waiting out here,” she informed me.

I shrugged and shoved away from the wall. I marched past her toward Luke’s door. The nurse gave a small, awkward smile.

“He might be a bit out of it because of the pain medication,” she said. “Will you two be needing anything else?” She glanced between us.

“We’re good,” the redhead said, as she took up sentry against the wall opposite Luke’s doors.

I pushed the door open and moved inside without a response. I shut the door behind me. I was fine with the redhead standing watch outside, but she didn’t need to witness my apology. 

The room was lit by the soft yellow glow of a bedside lamp. Luke was propped up in bed by several pillows. His right arm was in a sling. His chest was bare, save for the thick white bandages that wound around his torso. He was gazing rather listlessly out the window that gave a view of the starlit grounds behind the infirmary.

“Hey,” I said quietly.

Luke jumped and looked around quickly. His eyes widened as they fell on me. I shuffled awkwardly in the doorway, keeping my gaze on the floor.

“What, what are you doing here?” he breathed.

I shoved the flowers in his direction, rather aggressively I had to admit since the flowers were meant as a peace offering.

“So, you came here to kill me?”

“What? I—I’m giving you flowers.” I gestured limply toward the rather sad bouquet of wilting flowers.

“I’m allergic to daisies, like deathly allergic,” Luke said. He gave a small chuckle and promptly winced.

“Oh, shit, fuck! What should I?” I flailed around rather uselessly in the doorway until my eyes fell on the window. I sprinted across the room, yanked open the window, and hurled the flowers into the night. I slammed the window shut and spun back around. “Is that okay? Are you gonna die now?”

“We’re in the clear,” Luke said with another small laugh. “I never would have expected you of all people to show up here with _flowers_.”

“Uh, yeah,” I said sheepishly. “Those were my, um, apology flowers. I came to apologize for, like…” I waved in his general direction.

“Absolutely wrecking my shit?” he offered.

“Yeah, that.” My hands dropped to my sides. I stood in silence by the window with my shoulders hunched up to my ears.

“So?” Luke said. “Was that your apology?”

“Oh, oh, um, no,” I said hurriedly. “Should, should I give it to you?”

“You don’t need to ask permission to give an apology, dummie,” Luke said with a shake of his head. “What you should be asking for is forgiveness.”

“Oh, right, that.”

“Yeah. That.”

“Sorry,” I began slowly.

“Good start,” Luke said with a laugh. He was deriving far too much pleasure from this.

“Sorry I freaked out at you and messed you up,” I said loudly in an effort to stave off further interruptions. “That was super shitty of me. I should have handled that situation better. Do you, do you forgive me?”

“Hm.” Luke propped his fist against his chin. “Let me think about it.” His brows furrowed as he delved deep in thought.

I pursed my lips to keep from scowling openly at him. He was just drawing this whole thing out for his own amusement, but I guessed I owed him that much.

“Alright,” Luke chirped, “I forgive you.”

“Ah, neat,” I said with a soft laugh of relief. “I mean, thanks.”

“Now, I have a question for you, Lucian,” Luke said. 

“Sure. Shoot.”

“Are we cool?”

I laughed quietly and ran my hand over my hair. That question didn’t make my veins run cold like it had before. My hand paused on the back of my neck, which throbbed rather painfully. Unless Callahan decided to mate Luke as far as I was concerned I had a the edge on Luke where Cal was concerned.

“I’m guessing since you don’t look like you’re going to rain hell on my ass the answer is ‘yes’,” Luke said.

“Yeah, the answer’s ‘yes’,” I said. “We’re cool. You can—“ I swallowed— “You and Cal can—“ I gnawed on my lip—“It’s fine if you—“

“Chill, Lu,” Luke said with a laugh, “I don’t wanna make you have a stroke.”

“Just don’t go reporting everything to me and I won’t,” I snapped sulkily. 

“Fair enough.”

“Okay, so yeah, that’s all. Feel better soon. Bye.” I nodded quickly and hurried across the room.

“Hey, Lucian,” Luke said when my hand fell on the doorknob. “Thanks for coming by; that was really cool of you.”

“Uh, yeah, no problem, Luke, and I, I owe you one. If you ever need something, just hit me up.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts on how they can tell if the mark worked? Hint it rhymes with 'neat'


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> good GOD it took 5fuckingever to write this chapter ughhhhh anyway it's smut time friends
> 
> edit aug 19: i rewrote this and now i think the smut is actually good lmao

Staring listlessly at the wall was something of a talent of mine. Today I was implementing this talent during my history class. History was actually one of my favorite classes at the Academy; I greatly enjoyed learning about the crazy shenanigans vampire and shifter ancestors got up to. I would say ‘my’ ancestors if it weren’t for the fact that the Samirillian blood was so damn pure—and possibly inbred—that I only had one family line snaking back into the past, and they were about as interesting in the historical context of vampires as dried lettuce.

Despite having one of the purest and oldest blood lines, the Samirillians had never made a power grab from the throne. I was beyond okay with that since it meant none of my grandparents had been slowly tortured to death because of a failed coup. Since my father didn’t have grandiose plans for succession I didn’t have to be yanked out of school and taken to the court, like that senior Royal I’d hooked up with last semester had been.

My lethargically meandering thoughts ground to a sudden stop as a sharp pulse of warmth radiated through my body. I bit off a quiet gasp and curled over the top of my desk. Another pulse wave swept over my body. My fangs throbbed against my gums as my veins ran hot. _Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit_ , my brain screamed as my body grew hotter. My throat burned and ached; sweat dripped down the nape of my neck. What the fuck; was I thirsty? I had fed not too long ago. I should be fine; this shouldn’t be happ—heat pooled in the pit of my stomach and my cock twitched between my legs.

I jerked out of my seat and dashed out of the classroom, abandoning my book bag as I made my desperate escape. I ran through the halls of the academic building as my body continued to ache from this sudden onset of somewhat arousing warmth. It sure as hell felt like I was thirsty, but I didn’t usually pop a stiffy when I was thirsty. Generally it was during the actual feeding that that happened.

I stumbled into the quad and jogged clumsily toward the dorm. I busted through the dormitory doors, almost tripping over the threshold. I heard the attendant on duty say something with an edge of concern in his voice, but I ignored him as I stumbled to the stairwell.

I made it up a flight before my legs gave out beneath me and I collapsed on the landing. A wet pant left my lips as I pressed my hands painfully against the linoleum in an effort to still the quakes that were shuddering through my body. My face felt painfully hot and I imagined the veins in my cheeks had burst because this was just me being thirsty, right? This wasn't anything else—it couldn’t be because what the ever loving fuck would it even be.

I fished into my back pocket and yanked out of my phone. I scrolled through my contact list—which was about four people long so scrolling wasn’t actually involved—and jammed my thumb against Callahan’s name.

As the dial tone blared painfully loud in my ear, I crawled to the next set of stairs. I pushed myself off the bottom step and got to my feet. My legs threatened to pitch me onto my face as I began the slow ascension to my room.

Callahan picked up on the third ring.

“What’s up?” he said curtly. The I’m-busy-this-better-be-good was evident in his voice.

“‘m dying,” I muttered as I reached the next landing.

“Dying?” Callahan said slowly. “Like last time you called?”

“I don’t know,” I slurred. I tripped on the steps and clipped my chin painfully on one of the steps. “Ow.”

“Are you alright?”

I gritted my teeth. His deep voice resonated through the phone and seemed to flood my body with even more warmth. If things kept up like this, I was probably going to spontaneously combust.

“‘m fine,” I forced out through clenched teeth. I finally reached the top floor of the dormitory and staggered into my bedroom.

“Where are you right now?” Callahan asked.

“My room,” I huffed. I promptly tripped over my feet and face-planted into the side of my bed. “Fuck,” I groaned. I was distinctly glad Callahan wasn’t here to witness my seemingly-drunken antics.

“I need you to tell me what’s going on Lucian,” Callahan said in a slow, even voice. “Do you need blood?”

I needed him to shut the fuck up because for whatever reason his every word had shot straight to my dick and now that I was kneeling next to my bed I could take ample stock of the fact that I had a raging hard on. I panted raggedly as I pressed my forehead against the side of the mattress.

“What the fuck?” I whispered.

“Lucian,” Callahan said, “Tell me what's going on.”

“I, I don’t know.” My fingers bruised my thigh as I gripped it in effort to keep my hand away from the bulge in my pants. “I don’t—fuck.” My eyes squeezed shot as my face flooded with color.

“I’m coming over,” Callahan said. “Stay in your room.”

“Don’t,” I mumbled weakly. “I’m not, I’m not thirsty; it’s fine.”

“Stay in your room,” Callahan repeated and he hung up.

“Fuck,” I hissed as I slammed my phone down on the floor. Painful shocks were running from the tips of my fingers and toes up my limbs. My cock throbbed in my pants. Sweat rolled off my temples. I was aroused to the point of feeling like I was going to throw up.

I clutched the edge of the mattress and pulled myself to my feet. I braced my hands on the mattress as tremors coursed down my legs. What the actual fuck was happening. My fangs were straining painfully against my gums, but I didn’t feel the keen burn of thirst in the back of my throat. This was definitely something else and I definitely didn’t like it.

The sound of heavy footsteps careening up the stairs made me jerk back from the bed. I stumbled back and whipped around. Callahan’s scent flooded my senses and the back of my neck throbbed painfully.

My dorm room door flung open and Callahan rushed inside. His eyes found me immediately and roamed quickly over my form. I flushed red and my breathingcame in soft pants.

Suddenly, a low growl resonated in the back of Callahan’s throat. I gave a small gasp. He cleared the space between us in a flash and grabbed my shoulders. He threw me against the wall. I cried out in surprise.

“Cal—“

Callahan buried his face in the crook of my neck. He breathed in deeply and his grip on my shoulders tightened. I whined quietly. I had to force my hips to remain pressed against the wall even though they sought to be pressed against the warmth of his body.

“Cal, what, what are you doing?” I finally managed.

“You’re having a heat,” Callahan breathed in my ear. He drew back and stared down at me. “I didn’t notice. It’s a small one for me.” His voice was tight, constrained, like he was barely keeping himself in check.

“What the fuck? How?” I snapped. “I’m not a shifter bitch!”

“Lucian.” Callahan’s voice was harsh, authoritative, and shot straight to my dick. His grip tightened again on my shoulders to the point where I was guaranteed I’d have bruises.

“S-sorry,” I whispered.

“It’s because of the bond.” Though his voice remained even, I could feel his body starting to tremble. “The mark will have a heat whenever the alpha does for breeding purposes.”

I nodded slowly as my gaze dropped to his chest. Now that I knew what was going on, I felt less pathetic for having a hard-on right now. This was all because of the heat—which I was apparently having—and that was why I was reacting so strongly to Callahan’s voice.

“Lu,” Callahan said quietly.

I raised my eyes to his.

“A mark shouldn’t have their first heat alone; it isn’t healthy.” His grip on my shoulders loosened and he reached up to cup my face in his hand. “I know things have been strained between us, but I’m still your alpha and I don’t want you to do this alone.”

I smacked his hands aside. Callahan’s eyes widened in shock, but I moved again. I threw my arms around his neck and yanked myself off the floor. I slammed my lips against his. Callahan gave a muffled cry of surprise before pushing back into the kiss.

The kiss was messy, sloppy, and there was a bit too much teeth involved to call it elegant, but luckily my fangs didn’t nip Callahan’s lips. The last thing I needed for my current state of mind was to start craving Callahan’s blood.

Callahan might have realized that there was a distinct possibility that I would bite him because he pulled back from the kiss and pressed his teeth against my throat.

I moaned loudly and wrapped my legs around his waist. Callahan’s hands fell to my ass and he pulled me against him. I whimpered quietly as I rutted against him. He left a trail of bruises and teeth marks down my neck to my collarbone. I whined particularly loudly when his teeth scraped the bone of clavicle.

“Cal, Cal,” I panted as I dug my nails into his jacket. I pulled one of my hands away from his neck and dropped it between us. I fumbled clumsily with the button of my pants, but with me pressed against him I couldn’t do much to alleviate the pressure on my hard on. “Cal, wait. It’s—“ I broke off in a loud moan, but Callahan got the message.

He spun us toward the bed and dropped me onto it. I gasped as I released his neck and fell onto the mattress. Callahan braced his knee beside me. His hands dropped to my hips. I stifled a long moan. He quickly finished my messy work of undoing my pants. I pressed the heel of my hand against my mouth to keep my noises in check. Callahan slipped his fingers below the waistband of my pants. He glanced up at me. I nodded earnestly and lifted my ass off the mattress.

Callahan pulled my pants and briefs down to my knees. He dropped over me and pressed his lips to my hipbone. I cried out against my hand and my hips bucked off the mattress. Callahan caught hold of my hips and pinned me down as he continued to trail his lips closer to my dick. I whined loudly and my hips shook in his hands. Tears leaked out of the corners of my eyes. Heat still blanketed me and my cheeks were flushed with it. I trembled and mewed. I could feel Callahan’s breath on my cock. I dropped my hand from my mouth.

“Cal, ohmygod, please,” I gasped.

He ducked forward and dragged his tongue over the tip of my cock. I cried out loudly and slammed my hands over my mouth once more. Callahan scraped his teeth gently over my tip. My hips shook desperately, but Callahan kept me pinned to the bed. The back of my neck was starting to ache painfully.

Callahan’s lips pressed against the crown of my cock and began to slide over my length. I whined loudly into my hands. My toes curled inside my shoes. Drool slid down my chin as my mouth over-salivated like it would if I were thirsty.

Callahan’s hot mouth enveloped my length until I felt the tip rub against the back of his throat. I’d never gotten a blow job before. Usually I was the one doling them out. My mind could barely process the pleasure that was coursing through me from the wet heat of Callahan's mouth. My body trembled and my hips pushed against Callahan’s strong hands. My head was spinning. It felt like I couldn’t breath; I couldn’t think. 

One of Callahan’s hands left my hips, but he could still easily hold me in place with one. I stared down my body and watched as Callahan slid his hand into his sweatpants.

“Oh god,” I whispered and dropped my head onto the mattress.

Callahan’s tongue dipped into my slit. I gasped and my fingers tightened in his hair. My hips jerked slightly. His hand pressed against my hip. Callahan swallowed around me and dragged his tongue along the underside of my cock. A sob tore from my chest. Callahan pulled off my cock with a wet pop. He glanced up at me with concern in his eyes. His teeth scraped slowly over the tip of my cock.

I cried out and my back arched as I came. My vision blurred and went white. My hands fell weakly to Callahan’s shoulders. My heartbeat thundered in my ears. My blood burned through my veins. Slowly, my heartbeat softened to steady thumping and my body temperature began to return to normal.

I blinked my eyes open, and looked down at Callahan. He was carefully wiping his face on the sleeve of his shirt and I realized as embarrassment flooded my cheeks I had come all over his face.

“S-sorry,” I said weakly.

Callahan moved over me. He smiled as he wiped away the last bit of come from his face.

“Don’t worry about it,” he murmured, “as long as I can return the favor.”

He leaned down and pressed his lips gently to my throat. I moaned and arced my neck back. All of my vampire instincts were screaming at me not to bare my throat to shifter, but a stronger set of instincts that seemed to originate from the base of my neck overpowered them.

Callahan licked and sucked carefully at my throat. His hand slid over my chest and he pushed my shirt up. The warmth in my veins was slowly leaving my body, leaving me feeling numb and content. I whined quietly.

Callahan came over my chest a moment later. His hot come splattered across my chest and a bit got on my shirt despite his efforts. Callahan broke away from my neck and sat back. He reached down and brushed my hair out of my face.

“How do you feel?”

“I’m good,” I murmured with a slow nod.

Callahan got off the bed and fetched a wash cloth from the bathroom. While he was gone, I pulled my pants and briefs back up. When he returned, he carefully cleaned off my chest.

“So, does this mean the mark took?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Callahan said with a nod as he stepped back and tossed the washcloth into the laundry hamper.

“Great, now I’m going to have heats like a shifter,” I grumbled under my breath.

Callahan chuckled and shook his head.

“Call me if you need anything,” he said. He gave me a small smile before turning and leaving the room without another word.

I blinked slowly as I stared around the empty room. I didn’t know what I had been expecting; for him to stay? And what? Cuddle? We weren’t real mates. He’d only dropped by to help me get off.

I pushed slowly to my feet and slipped off my clothes. I moved over to my closet door, where my towel hung. I wrapped the towel carefully around my waist. A hollowness seeped into my chest as I stared blankly at the floor. That, all of that, had exhausted me more emotionally than physically, as if I had been invested _emotionally_ in the hook up. And I couldn’t shake the thought that Callahan had only used me to fulfill a physical need.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh man i hope that wasn't total crap ugh idk why it was such a bitch to write
> 
> if you want you can buy me a coffee! (literally will just use it on coffee because i always go to starbucks to write and that's some expensive bean juice) https://ko-fi.com/A006GYB  
> also hmu on insta: kitsvnebi
> 
> also turns out i haven't been depression sleeping my thyroid just straight up decided to not do its job so my tsh level is hella high which means i'm exhausted all the time and can't function like a normal person yay


	16. Chapter Sixteen

“Hey,” Callahan said as he dropped onto the couch beside Vanessa.

Vanessa glanced up from her phone and pulled out her earbuds. “‘Sup?” 

Callahan sighed and rubbed his hands on his knees. He wasn’t looking forward to the conversation he was about to have with Vanessa, but he needed to talk to someone about the situation with Lucian. Of all the shifters at the Academy, Callahan had grown closest to Vanessa and Lionel over the few months he had been here. The latter wasn’t much of a conversationalist and his advice generally consisted of non-committal shrugs.

“Can I talk to you about something?” Callahan finally asked as he draped his arms over the back of the couch. He focused his eyes across the living room on Gilbert the Lizard’s tank.

Sam had concocted that name, and was weirdly proud of her choice. Approximately everyone in the cottage had tried to convince her to pick a different name, but he was her lizard so there wasn't much anyone could do.

“Of course,” Vanessa said as she wound her earbuds around her phone. She sat up straighter from where she had been curled around the arm of the couch.

“Don’t tell anyone about this, okay?” Callahan said. He glanced back at Vanessa. “Even Sam over pillow talk.”

Vanessa scowled as soft blush painted her cheeks pink. “We’re not at the pillow-talking point in the relationship yet.”

“Only a matter of time,” Callahan said, cracking a small grin.

Vanessa rolled her eyes. She reached her foot out and kicked him lightly in the knee. “Let’s hear what’s on your mind, Dark and Brooding.”

“It’s about Lucian.”

“Ah-ha, just kidding,” Vanessa said with a dry laugh. “You can keep it to yourself.”

“Ness,” Callahan began, but Vanessa cut him off.

“You heard what he did to Luke, right? He fucking demolished the poor kid during self-defense training. There was nothing self-defense or training about what Lucian did. And you should of seen his face—“ Vanessa grimaced—“he looked _feral_. I thought he was going to _bite_ Luke.”

“I’ve talked to both of them about what happened,” Callahan said quietly. He had felt obligated to reach out to Luke and then berate Lucian since he felt partially responsible for what had happened. Regardless of how he saw his relationship with Lucian, the vampire was volatile, emotional, and possessive. Callahan should have give Luke the heads up about Lucian's nature, but he hadn't expected Luke to say anything to Lucian.

“Lucian’s apologized to Luke for what he did,” Callahan continued. “We’ve more or less sorted things out…” Callahan’s voice drifted off and he gritted his teeth slightly.

“And how did you go about doing that?” Vanessa asked. 

“You seriously can’t tell anyone about this, Ness,” Callahan said, shooting her a hard glance.

“Don’t worry, Cal,” Vanessa said. “I won’t tell a soul; scout’s honor.”

“Thanks,” Callahan said. He ran his hand slowly through his hair. “You see, Lucian…Well, he, he let me mark him.”

“ _What?_ ” Vanessa screeched, loudly enough to make Gilbert jump and scuttle into hiding beneath his log. “You marked him? Like fucking mates?”

“You wanna say that a bit louder,” Callahan muttered. “I don’t think the entire cottage heard you.”

“Sorry,” Vanessa said. She pitched her voice lower but it doesn’t lose any of the intense confusion. “You mean you seriously marked a _vampire_?”

“Yeah,” Callahan said with a slow nod.

“Did the mark even take?” Vanessa asked.

“It did. We figured that out yesterday when I had…I had a small heat.”

“Oh, Jesus,” Vanessa said, dropping her head in to her hands. “This is a fucking nightmare.”

“Thanks, Ness. I’m glad my life has reached nightmaric proportions in your eyes.”

“Why the fuck did you mark him?” Vanessa said in a beseeching voice as she looked up at Callahan.

“You know how he wants me to be his guardian?” Callahan said. 

“All I know is he’s a little turd muncher and he declared that you would be his guardian.”

“Okay, one, that was disgusting; please don’t ever say that again. And two, yeah he did do that. He was still really hung up on making me his guardian, and we, well, we had a bit of an argument—no surprise there. Finally he offered to be marked so that we’d be on more equal footing if I became his guardian.”

“This is wild,” Vanessa said with a slow shake of her head. “I can’t believe you mated a vampire just because you have a stick up your ass about being 'owned' by a vampire.”

“I don’t wanna hear that from the woman who publicly, albeit drunkenly, declared profound hatred for the vampire hierarchy and the “slave treatment” of shifters the other night at the cottage's weekly charade session.”

“Fair point,” Vanessa conceded. “So, like, that heat...what happened exactly?” Her voice was hesitant; she was probably remembering the last time Callahan had gone into heat around Lucian.

“It was a small one,” Callahan said, “since it was only my time of the month—“ Vanessa rolled her eyes— “but because of the mark Lucian felt it too, so he went into heat.” Callahan’s cheeks reddened and he focused his gaze on the floor.

“So you guys boned,” Vanessa said.

“ _No_ , we hooked up. Then I left, but that, that’s not what I want to talk about.” Callahan waved his hand dismissively.

“Hold the fuck up,” Vanessa said. “You guys hooked up and then you just _left_.”

“Yeah? So? What was I supposed to do? Stick around for a cuddle sesh?”

“Yes,” Vanessa said with a flabbergast expression. “Jesus, Callahan, are you telling me you didn’t do your mating research before you chomped on Lucian’s neck?”

“What are you getting at?” Callahan said in confusion.

“Mark drop, you gigantic moron.”

“What’s mark drop?” Callahan frowned deeply as he stared at Vanessa. He didn’t understand anything she was saying, but he could tell from her eyes that he had fucked up tremendously.

“When an alpha goes into a heat, his mark has a heat also,” Vanessa explained. “Because of their bond, the mark gets pumped full of the alpha’s hormones and his own. Then the alpha and the mark, you know, do the do. So basically the mark is high on endorphins and happy chemicals and ect., but then the heat ends and it’s goodbye happy chemicals and hello cripplingly depressed mark. If the alpha is a complete douche noodle and peaces out on the mark right after they fuck.”

“We didn’t fuck,” Callahan muttered.

“But you did leave him after, right?” Vanessa said.

“We’re barely friends, Vanessa,” Callahan said, “let alone the type to cuddle after a meaningless hookup.”

“When an alpha and mark hook up during heat, it can’t be meaningless by, like, definition. Shared heats exist for procreation. Marks get super emotional during an alpha’s heat. God, I can’t imagine a more emotional Lucian than usual; he’s probably a complete mess.”

“So, you’re saying I should have stuck around for cuddles?” Callahan asked quietly. He stared down at his hands, remembering how he had slowly stroked Lucian’s hair after the vampire had come. Callahan had wanted to stay—probably because of the mark—but things were still weird between him and Lucian. He had been afraid of what staying would mean for their relationship, but apparently it was his job as the alpha to stay after a heat.

“Fuck,” Callahan groaned as he dropped his head into the hand. 

“Yeah, fuck is right,” Vanessa said. She reached and patted Callahan’s shoulder. “Before we got sidetracked on what a failure of an alpha you are, what did you want to talk about?”

“I’m not really sure,” Callahan said with a sigh. He sat back against the couch. “I guess, just the idea of a mark in general. It all happened so fast I could barely process what I was doing. One second we were arguing, and the next I’d marked him.”

“Do you regret it?” Vanessa asked.

“I’m not sure. It’s only been about a week since I marked him. Nothing’s really changed, except during the heat…”

“When you were super turned on and wanted to fuck him,” Vanessa said, nodding sagely. 

“Yes, that’s an accurate description, thank you, but not what I was going to say,” Callahan said. 

Vanessa inclined her head in a polite apology.

“When I saw him, I felt like I needed to protect him. Since it was his first heat and he was a vampire at that, it was going to be really hard—shut up—and confusing for him, so I had to help, like that was my job—to protect him. It felt like how it was when we—“ Callahan broke off quickly.

“When you what?” Vanessa asked slowly.

“When we—“ Callahan sighed— “When we had the blood bond.”

“Fuck, you are absolutely bitch slapping me with these tidbits about your relationship with Lucian,” Vanessa said with a shake of her head. “When the fuck and why the fuck did you have a blood bond with him?”

“After I went into heat that first time and he got locked in my room…he made the bond to stop me.”

“So that’s how he did it,” Vanessa murmured quietly. “You guys had the bond at the mansion?”

“Yeah,” Callahan said, “that’s how I knew he was in trouble.”

“Well, it makes sense that your need to protect Lucian during the bond is similar to how you feel being his alpha. It’s the alpha’s job to protect his mate.”

“Let’s not call him that,” Callahan muttered with a small frown as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Your alpha instincts must not be very strong if you just up and left him after the heat,” Vanessa continued.

“You do not pull any punches, do you?” Callahan muttered.

“Sorry, did I bruise your alpha pride?” Vanessa asked with a toothy grin. 

Callahan rolled his eyes. He dropped his head on the back of the couch and dragged his hands over his face. 

“Are you looking for advice from me about what you should do?” Vanessa asked.

“I don’t know, sorry,” Callahan said with a shake of his head. “I think I just wanted someone to talk to.”

“Well, I’m always here to talk, even if it’s about Lucian,” Vanessa said.

Callahan rolled his eyes.

“So, does this mean you’re going to be his guardian?” Vanessa asked.

“Yeah, if I pass the exam," Callahan said in a low voice.

"Of course, you're going to pass, dumbass," Vanessa said, smacking him on the shoulder. 

Callahan gave a small, forced smile.

“I can’t believe you’re settling to be Lucian’s guardian,” Vanessa said. “Cal, you could seriously be a guardian at the Royal Court.”

“For someone who doesn’t like the vampire hierarchy, you certainly sing its praises when it comes to the Court.”

“Ah, _yeah_ ,” Vanessa said. “Shifters at court don’t get fucked with like the rest of us do.”

“Life at court would be too much for me,” Callahan said with a shake of his head. “I enjoy being at the Academy; it’s not as high pressure as I imagine court would be.”

“Oh, yes,” Vanessa said sagely, “and being Lucian’s guardian certainly wouldn’t be high pressure what with him being targeted by sanguines.”

“I would prefer dealing with a sanguine over court politics.”

“That’s fair,” Vanessa said.

“Why don’t you try for the Royal Court?” Callahan asked.

“I, um—“ Vanessa blushed and glanced down at her phone. “I am actually. I want to get selected this year.”

“Ness, that’s…Wow, I had no idea.” Callahan shook his head. “I mean, you’d make for a great candidate and I totally support you. I just had no idea; you didn’t say anything.”

“Yeah, I haven’t told anyone actually,” Vanessa said with a small laugh.

“How come?”

“‘Cause, you know, if I don’t get accepted, just—“ Vanessa shrugged— “I don’t want people to know how much I want this because I’m afraid I won’t get it and that would be really embarrassing.”

Callahan nodded slowly. “Let me know if you need any help with extra training. I’d be happy to lend a hand. And I won’t tell anyone until you do.”

“And I’ll keep it under wraps that you have a mate.”

“Oh, god, please don’t call him my mate. Especially around him—actually don’t let him know that I told you; he’d probably flip out.”

“Lucian always flips out,” Vanessa said. “That’s like his M. O..”

“True.”

“On a serious note, you should check on him. He’s a handful on a good day and I can’t imagine what he’ll be like when he’s going through a mark drop.”

“I’ll talk to him,” Callahan said with a slow nod.

“You better,” Vanessa said. “You have to take responsibility for your dick.”

It was at that moment that Sam chose to stroll into the room. She was brought to a halt by Vanessa’s statement. She glanced slowly between the pair on the couch, shook her head, and crossed the room to Gilbert’s tank.

“Not even going to ask,” she said as she set about feeding the lizard.

* * *

I trudged slowly down the steps. My eyes were on my shoes as I descended toward the dormitory lobby. I had been in something of a terrible mood ever since my heat. I still wasn’t quite over the fact that I had even had a heat of my own. Prowling the Academy’s digital library to find out if there were any recorded vampires who had had heats proved fruitlessly. Callahan and I couldn’t have been the first shifter and vampire who had gotten it into their heads to mate—I shuddered at that word; it was much too…intimate to describe my relationship with Callahan even if I had had my dick in his mouth during a shared heat—but there weren’t any records about a shifter marking a vampire. I wasn’t surprised since such a relationship would be seen as illicit at best, so if anyone had it, they'd keep it hush-hush, but was it really too much to ask for a goddamn guidebook on how to deal with this sort of thing?

My shitty mood didn’t only have to do with being unable to find any information on what a marked vampire should expect from life, but I couldn’t put my thumb on what exactly had me in such a sullen state. Due to my mood being how it was, I had opted to skip my classes yesterday, which provided me with ample time to stare broodingly at the ceiling when I wasn’t scouring the interwebs for any and all information that could help me figure this shit out.

My pondering hadn’t provided me with any ground-breaking conclusions. I was still at a loss for how I felt about letting Callahan mark me. It had seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to do at the time when the pair of us were at each other’s throats. I still wasn’t sure why I was quite literally sticking my neck out for Callahan’s sake. Maybe it was because of the irrevocable guilt that haunted me after all the shifters I had put down in my father’s name. Maybe I felt if I saved one shifter from my father, I could be forgiven for what I had done to so many others. Just kidding. I had long since stopped caring about things I could never change. I killed shifters when my father wanted me to and I didn’t feel bad about it; that was just how things were in my family and even if the shifters didn’t have the option to sign up to be in my father’s employ they still knew what they were getting themselves into.

No, I had let Callahan mark me for an entirely different reason than my non-existent guilt. While I had come to the conclusion that my reasoning was I would forever have a blood source in Callahan if he was my guardian and I was his mark, I still felt like there was something more to it.

Sighing dramatically didn’t do much to clear my head but I did so all the same as I shoved open the dormitory door. I moved out onto the steps and was quickly alerted to someone’s presence as they straightened from where they had been leaning against the balustrade.

“Oh, hey,” Callahan said. There was a small hitch of awkwardness to his voice as he spoke. “You finally decided to emerge.”

“Were you waiting for me?” I asked. A scowl creased my face as I stared up at him. 

“Yeah,” Callahan said with a small, sheepish shrug. “I was hoping we could talk about everything.”

“I’m going to class,” I grumbled. I shifted my bag on my shoulder as I plodded down the steps away from him. 

“We can walk and talk,” Callahan said. His voice was questioning as if he were hoping for my permission to do so.

I only shrugged as I continued on my way toward the academic building. It was about midway through my second period of the night so we were the only two gracing the quad.

“I just wanted to see how you were doing,” Callahan said in a low voice. 

He walked a pace behind me. I glanced over my shoulder at him. His eyes were on the weathered pavement of the path we were moving along. 

“I’m fine,” I said with a shrug. 

Even with the mark, Callahan wouldn’t be able to tell that that was a blatant lie. Though I had been unable to uncover information about vampire and shifter markings, I had looked into normal marking to see exactly what I was getting myself into. As the mark aged, the alpha would steadily become more attuned to the mark’s emotional state. Since our mark was only a little over a week old, Callahan wouldn’t be able to understand my emotions any more than usual. 

On top of having the one-way street of emotional connection, the alpha also had the ability to issue orders to the mark. These orders weren’t absolute, just like blood bond orders weren’t absolute, but it would take an incredibly strong-willed mark to shake off the order of an alpha. There had been several cases of alphas marking other alphas, which pretty much made alpha orders a moot point since the marked alpha could more or less shrug them off with ease. I liked to imagine that I too could ignore any of Callahan’s future orders, but then again Callahan’s ability to more or less control me had been the selling point for having him mark me in exchange for him agreeing to be my guardian. Becoming a vampire’s personal guardian didn’t mean a shifter was physically incapable of disobeying an order. The only thing forcing a guardian to follow the commands of the vampire was social expectation. In public, Callahan would be expected to follow my every order no matter what, but we would both know that the one with ultimate control of the situation was Callahan.

I didn’t much care one way or the other if Callahan could control me with alpha orders, and it still hadn’t been tested to whether he even could or not. I also had faith in my blood’s power that I could shake off most of his commands. 

“That’s good,” Callahan said in response to my claim that I was fine. He nodded slowly. “I—there’s something I want to talk about, but first I have to apologize for something.” Callahan’s brow crinkled in thought.

I paused in the middle of the path. Callahan stopped as well and glanced over at me as I turned to face him.

“For what?” I asked in confusion.

“Well…” Callahan rubbed the back of his neck. A patch of grass by the path had full captivation of his gaze. “I didn’t know this at the time, but when an alpha and mark share a heat, afterward the mark might experience a sort of emotional drop. Basically, they can get really bummed out if the alpha doesn't take care of them after the heat.”

“Oh,” I said as I too found interest in the ground. “That, yeah, that makes a bit of sense.”

“So, you’re not fine?” Callahan asked.

“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “I’ve just been, you know, bummed out a bit.”

“I’m sorry,” Callahan said. 

“It’s cool. We didn’t know this was a thing.”

“Next time—I’ll do better next time.”

“Coooool,” I said as I rotated on my heel. “We can figure that all out later. I gotta…get to class.”

A soft brush of fingertips through my hair made me freeze. Callahan slowly slipped his fingers through my locks of hair and touched the puckered wound on the back of my neck. A small sigh drifted off my lips as I pressed back against his fingers. He cupped the back of my neck and stroked his thumb behind my ear. The tension in my shoulders fell away as I relaxed against his hand. A feeling of calming security washed over me and my eyes drifted shut.

The sharp chime of my phone made me jump. Callahan’s grip tightened on my neck as he too was surprised by the interruption. My eyes shot open and I quickly fished out my phone. Callahan loosened the pressure on my neck, but he didn’t remove his hand.

I looked down at my phone. I had recognized the tone as belonging to the academy’s administrative number, which was why I didn’t opt to ignore it. The academy often sent out announcements through text. In the case of this message, it was addressed specifically to me, and was asking for my presence at the administration building. I groaned as I shoved my phone back in my pocket.

“What’s up?” Callahan asked.

“I have to go to the admin building,” I said, “probably because I missed my morning class and I’m late for my next class too.”

“I told you to go to your classes,” Callahan said with an admonishing chuckle. He dropped his hand to his side. 

I rolled my eyes and changed direction to cut across the quad away from the academic building. Callahan followed behind me. We completed the walk to the administration building in silence. Though the destination had changed, Callahan still seemed intent on accompanying me. I didn’t mind. I was starting to feel a touch better after Callahan had explained the situation with mark drop, and the sensation of his hand on the back of my neck had certainly helped. When I had come across anything regarding shared heats during my research, I had quickly navigated to a new article out of profound embarrassment, which was why I had never come across this notion of a drop.

We mounted the steps of the building together and Callahan moved ahead to open the door for me. I walked inside.

My eyes found him immediately. 

My father stood in the center of the entry hall. His imperious stature made it seem as if the very room had been built just for him to stand in the center of. A crisp tailored suit hung from his broad frame. His white blond hair was cut to frame his angled face. He was speaking in a low voice to Eve Pryer, who had enough confidence in her own social status to look slightly impatient while in my father’s presence. Morgan stood behind the headmistress next to Ethan. The pair were of a height, though Ethan substantially out bulked Morgan. That didn’t change that fact that Morgan could probably hand his ass to him.

My father hadn’t noticed myself or Callahan yet—the two guardians had of course noted our presence with a cursory glance. I swallowed and licked my lips tentatively. I had by no means been expecting my father’s presence here today. I hadn’t mentally prepared myself for this. My hands began to shake uncontrollably at my sides. I quickly clenched them into fists and hid them behind my back. A clammy sweat pooled between my shoulder blades. I swallowed again and forced a cheery expression onto my face.

“Father!” I said excitedly as I hurried across the room. 

My father glanced around. He looked slightly annoyed by my interruption. I ran up to him and caught hold of his arm. 

“What are you doing here?” I asked with a bright smile as I rested my chin on his arm and blinked up at him.

“Lucian, you look well,” my father said. He reached up and ran a hand over my hair. “There’s a board of trustees meeting today so I’m here for that, but I wanted to see you as well.” He looked over my shoulder toward Callahan. “Ah, it’s the shifter from the Hemsworth estate. I was hoping to run into you. I wanted to thank you for your help protecting my son.” My father extended his hand past me.

“Of course, sir,” Callahan said. He moved forward and took my father’s hand. “It’s my job.”

“Then I hope you continue to do your job,” my father said.

Callahan nodded.

“Adler,” a voice suddenly called from the doorway.

My father looked around at the sound of his surname. There were very few who addressed him in any way other than Lord Samirillian. I stiffened against my father’s arm at the sound of that voice. I didn’t have any favorite voices in the world, but I certainly had least favorites and this one took the cake.

Raife Vasiliev stood framed in the doorway. He was of a height with Callahan, who dwarfed everyone currently in the room at his impressive six feet, five inches. Raife’s shoulders were broad; his arms like corded tree trunks they were so heavily muscled. He was one of the most physically strong vampires I had ever encountered. His square face was framed by thick black hair. His eyes were a marbled red-brown. When he grinned, his strong, white fangs flashed in the light. And he did grin at the sight of my father. 

“It’s so good to see you,” Raife said as he crossed the room. He thrust his hand toward my father in greeting.

“And you, Raife,” my father said with a small nod as he took Raife’s hand.

I detached myself carefully from my father’s arm and sketched a small bow to Raife. Callahan stepped away from my father and I and followed my example. Eve Pryer bowed as well, and so did the guardians. The only one who remained with an unbent spine beside my father was Raife’s ever present shadow. I straightened slightly and looked beyond Raife as he continued to exchange cordial words with my father.

Aiden’s face was as gaunt and sallow as ever. His sunken silver eyes rested on the ornate carpet. His hair was a dark black and fell to his chin. Dark tattoos spiraled around his neck. He was dressed in dark pants and a dark hoodie. It would seem he had yet to outgrown his emo phase. He glanced up when he felt my gaze on him. His expression didn't change as he stared at me with empty eyes.

I shivered as I looked away from him.

“…and Lucian.”

I jumped as Raife spoke my name. I looked up at him hurriedly with wide eyes. He smiled down at me.

“You are looking as lovely as ever,” he said as he cupped my face in one of his large hands. “Though—“ he leaned in closer so his lips brushed my ear— “you always looked th loveliest when you’re on your back.” He straightened and smile down at me.

“It’s good to see you, Lord Vasiliev,” I murmured in a tight voice. 

“The rest of the board is upstairs already,” Eve Pryer said. 

“We should head up then,” Raife said. He patted my cheek before moving past me.

Aiden moved after him. Eve Pryer and Morgan followed the pair to the steps as Raife and Eve began speaking. 

“I will see you after the board meeting,” my father said. 

I nodded and watched him and Ethan mount the steps as well.

* * *

Callahan gazed up at the receding back of Lord Raife Vasiliev. His blood had run ice cold when his eyes had first fallen on the vampire. He hadn’t expected to lay eyes on Raife for many more years to come. Even as a member of this academy’s board of trustees Raife very rarely left court and instead would Skype into meetings such as this one. It had taken every ounce of his will power for Callahan to simply bow to the vampire. With his face toward the floor, he had had ample time to get his instinctual desire to shift forms under control. He wasn’t surprised his first instinct upon seeing Raife was to attack him. The only thing that kept him from doing so was the knowledge that everything up until now would have been for nothing if he had lashed out at Raife. Even with out the presence of two other guardian-vampire pairs, Callahan wouldn’t have been able to lay a finger on Raife. Raife's vampire guardian was the greatest obstacle he had to face; second being the member of the Crowned Family himself. Getting rid of Aiden would be near impossible for Callahan to do alone.

Which was why he needed Lucian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hot diggity doggo callahan's got them ulterior motives woooooo


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: vomiting, self-induced vomiting
> 
> this is barely edited sorry! i'll edit it better later but i'm p sure i'm about to get a parking ticket and i just want to post this absolute mess of a chapter

My father and I walked in silence down one of the corridors in the dinning hall building. I had met him on the steps of the administration building once the board meeting had finished. We had exhausted our supply of innocuous small talk on the way here, which left this mildly awkward silence hanging between us. 

I glanced over at my father out of the corner of my eye. I doubted he read the situation as awkward. He was always perfectly at ease in every situation because he functioned under the assumption that they entire world would bend to his will without him even raising a finger. 

I could only devote so much focus to this awkward silence since cold dread was filling the pit of my stomach. There was a reason my father had led the way to the dinning hall and that reason filled my mouth with acidic bile. 

We reached the end of the corridor and my father pushed open the door that stood before us. It swung into a brightly lit waiting room, the perimeter of which were lined with beige, uncomfortable-looking chairs, save for the far wall where there was a receptionist window and door beside it. A few of my vampiric classmates were scattered around the room. I kept my gaze averted as I followed my father to the receptionist window. 

The sound of my father giving his name echoed in my ears past the rushing of blood that filled my head. I had to focus painfully hard to keep my breathing even. 

My father and I weren’t subjected to the waiting room like the common plebs. An assistant fetched us immediately. I followed my father through the door. My eyes were rooted on the heels of his shoes. My vision was warped, tunneled, and seemed to throb with every palpitation of my heart.

The assistant led us to a private room and excused herself with a polite word that couldn’t quite reach me. Ethan remained outside of the room as the assistant let the door swing shut behind her. 

My father crossed the room to the drawn white curtain that concealed the far corner of the room. He stepped behind it. I waited, my entire body seeming to vibrate with anxiety. A coppery, metallic scent assaulted my senses. My stomach clenched. It felt like only a matter of seconds before my father emerged from the curtain. His long tongue snaked over his lips. 

He gestured to me with long, hooked fingers. I walked across the room. He held the curtain aside for me. 

A middle aged woman sat in a comfortable recliner by the window. She was smiling blearily up at me. My eyes ripped away from her face and fell to her exposed forearm. Fresh puncture wounds marred the flesh of her forearm. Blood dripped out of the wounds. 

I sat down on the cushioned stool in front of the woman’s chair. A heavy hand fell to my shoulder. I suppressed a long shudder as my father pushed me forward. He knew that I tended to have trouble with feedings, though he had no idea to what extent or why.

I leaned forward. I heard the woman gasp in quiet anticipation. My breath brushed the woman’s forearm, wafting the sickly scent of her blood into my face. Slowly I sunk my teeth into the wounds my father had left. Blood filled my mouth; the abhorrent taste seemed to choke me. I jerked back, but my father’s hand pressed down on the back of my head. My eyes widened. If he dropped his hand lower, he’d find the mark. 

I swallowed nervously, which caused a mouthful of blood to spill down my throat. I gagged and my fangs bit deeper into the flesh. The woman groaned in pain. My father carefully ran his hands through my hair and pulled the locks away from my face. He collected them in a fist at the base of my neck. My body shook in terror.

“Don’t worry, Lucian,” he murmured. “Just drink.”

I softened my grip on the woman’s arm. I clenched my eyes shut and took a small, hesitant gulp. My stomach twisted and I immediately vomited the little blood I had drunk back into my mouth. I grimaced and swallowed desperately. I willed my stomach not to revolt again. 

“Don’t worry,” my father continued. “Drinking too much won’t have any adverse effects.” He ran his free hand soothingly over my scalp. He was of the mind that I was worried I'd go into a blood frenzy if I drank to much; I was fine with him thinking that.

“Lucian, might I ask you something about what occurred at the Hemsworth party?” my father asked. But it wasn’t really a question. He didn’t need my permission to ask me something. He had only said this to mock me with the courtesy. There was also the fact that my mouth was clamped around a feeder’s arm.

I nodded as best I could.

“Did you offer fellatio to Lord Syr?” My father’s voice was low and cold like ice. It shot a spike of fear down my spine.

I choked on a mouthful of blood. It sputtered out of my mouth and splattered across my face. My shoulders shook. My father pressed his hand against the back of my head.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” my father said in a disgusted tone. “Syr informed me that you traded your mouth for his cooperation in his and my business deal. You wouldn’t know just how embarrassing it is to find out about your son’s affairs with business partner.”

I whimpered quietly.

“If I want you involved in my business, I will ask it of you,” my father continued. “Don’t act out on you own.”

I nodded again in so far as I could. My father kept me pinned down for a moment longer before finally loosening his hold on me. I sat back hurriedly. I coughed and panted. My stomach was twisted into a horrible knot of pain and nausea. I was lightheaded from a lack of oxygen after focusing on feeding and not breathing. I drew in shallow, ragged breaths, that were close to breaking in anxiety-ridden gasps.

“Do you understand, Lucian?” my father asked.

“Yes, sir. I’m sorry, sir.”

My father nodded curtly. 

“May I please be excused to clean up?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I shot out of the stool and hurried to the door. I pushed it open and stumbled into the hallway. My face contorted as a sob threatened to choke me. I bit down quickly on my knuckle. The door clicked shut behind.

Ethan glanced down at me. His eyes flickered over my face, which I knew still betrayed my distress. He looked away. I turned and moved down the hall to the bathroom. I often frequented this bathroom after feedings. I pushed inside and ran to one of the stalls. I slammed the door shut and pushed the lock into place.

My knees hit the tiled floor with a sharp smack. I caught the seat of the toilet and yanked it up. My stomach twisted and seethed. I hunched over the basin and wretched uselessly. After several moments of nothing coming up, I slid my hand into my mouth and forced the putrid contents of my stomach to resurface.

I emerged from the stall a few minutes later. I walked slowly to the sink and set about cleaning myself up. 

I never would have thought that Syr would talk to my father about what I had done, but now that I knew he had it made sense in a twisted way. Syr must have loved lording my performance of fellatio over my father’s head. If it hadn’t been at my expense, I would have loved to have seen my father’s face when Syr slapped in the face with this information.

Once I had finished drying my hands, my eyes rose to my reflection in the bathroom mirror. My eyes were blood shot; my face paler than usual. Small veins had burst around my eyebrows from the induced vomiting. I had the feeling I looked more of a mess now than I had upon entering the bathroom.

All the same, I had no choice but to leave; my father was waiting for me after all. I stepped out of the bathroom and glanced down the corridor to where Ethan had been. The corridor was empty. I moved down it to the waiting room. My father and Ethan were nowhere to be seen.

“Excuse me,” the receptionist said from behind me. “Your father was called back to the administration building.” She offered me a warm smile. 

“Uh, thanks.” I nodded and left the feeding area. Part of me was happy I didn’t have to face my father again, but the rest of me…the rest of me felt abandoned beyond belief.

* * *

Callahan was on edge. He’d been this way since dropping Lucian off at his afternoon class. He’d gone through the rest of his night in something of a daze, a fact that luckily hadn’t been too obvious to anyone. This seemed to no longer be the case as Vanessa approached him with a rather concerned expression on her face.

The pair were in the gym together. During this block of time, there was a free-forming training session for the guardians and the senior shifter students. Vanessa had been sparring with Sam, but now she had turned her attention to Callahan.

“Hey,” she said when she was a few short paces away from him. She closed the remaining distance and plopped down on the bench beside him. “Wanna get it on?” She gestured to the gym floor.

Callahan simply shrugged.

“Wow, you must be really out of it, man,” she said. “I just laid out a blatant sexual innuendo for you and you didn’t give me even a disparaging glance.”

Callahan chuckled quietly and shook his head. “Sorry ‘bout that,” he said. 

“You worried about having a member of the Crowned Family on campus?” Vanessa asked.

Callahan’s jaw tightened slightly. His eyes lingered on the floor between his feet. Morgan had sent out an email that day to the guardians following Raife’s arrival. Apparently he hadn’t been scheduled to make an appearance at the board meeting. Generally he would Skype in from court. Though she had kept the email diplomatic, Callahan had no doubt that Morgan was peeved about this lack of communication. Security had been doubled due to Raife’s presence on campus. Luckily this meant that Callahan no longer had to follow Lucian around.

“I can’t remember the last time we had a vampire so close to the crown here,” Vanessa continued. “I’ve never even seen one before. I mean, I still haven’t.” Vanessa glanced at him. “You saw him, right?” Vanessa wasn’t generally one to babble. Her uncharacteristic show of nerves probably had to do with the fact that she was hoping to be a guardian at court, and now might meet a member of the Crowned Family for the first time ever. Perhaps she would even try to be recruited by Raife as one of his guardians. Callahan certainly hoped not.

“Yeah, I saw him,” Callahan said.

“What was he like?” Vanessa asked. 

“Tall,” Callahan said with a slow nod. He had worlds more to say about Raife, but he’d stick to the basics considering the mess what else he had to say would cause. Callahan sighed quietly. He glanced up and stared blankly across the gymnasium. “Physically very strong.”

“And his guardian?”

At that moment, the subject of Vanessa’s query moved into the the room. Aiden glanced around the room. He tugged unconsciously at the hem of his hoodie. He had little to no presence of self, unlike Lucian who could sweep into a room and command everyone’s attention in a matter of seconds. Granted, that probably had to do with the fact that he usually burst onto shifter turf when he was in a mood. It was clear Aiden didn’t want to draw attention to himself. 

“That’s him,” Callahan told Vanessa, nodding across the room to Aiden.

Aiden caught sight of the movement. He blinked several times before moving quickly across the gymnasium. Callahan groaned quietly. The vampire guardian had probably taken the nod as some sort of invitation. 

“That’s…” Vanessa stared at Aiden as he moved toward them. “Of course he has a vampire guardian,” she murmured.

Aiden stopped in front of the bench Vanessa and Callahan sat at. His eyes flickered between Callahan’s face and the open spot on the bench. Finally he sat down quickly. Callahan heard Vanessa suppress a snigger beside him.

“How old is he?” she whispered in Callahan’s ear. 

Aiden’s cheeks reddened. 

Callahan ignored Vanessa’s very audible inquiry and opted to address the vampire guardian. 

“‘Sup,” he said. 

“Hi,” Aiden said quietly. He glanced up at Callahan. “You’re Lucian’s guardian?” he asked.

“I’m not a guardian,” Callahan replied in a tight voice. 

“Oh.” Aiden’s eyes moved to the skirmishing pairs that littered the gymnasium.

“Shouldn’t you be with your master?” Vanessa asked. She leaned forward and stared at Aiden across Callahan.

“He told me to come…train.” Aiden gestured limply around the room. He looked up at Callahan, who met his gaze with a cold stare. Aiden opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it. His eyes dropped to the floor again. 

“Oh-ho, looking to get some training in,” Vanessa said, flashing a toothy grin. “You should spar with Cal.” She jerked her head toward Callahan.

“Not in the mood,” Callahan said at the same time Aiden said, “I don’t feel like it.”

The group lapsed into silence. Vanessa fidgeted on the bench next to Callahan. Callahan stared at the back of Aiden’s head, who had leaned forward to plant his elbows on his knees. This close to the guardian, Callahan could make out the details of the tattoo that twined around his neck. He recognized it as an elaborate depiction of the Vasiliev family crest: a raven and a sword. For a vampire guardian, a tattoo of their master’s family crest was equivalent to a shifter collar.

“If you aren’t a guardian, why were you with Lucian?” Aiden finally asked. His head swiveled slowly and he stared over his shoulder at Callahan. They locked eyes immediately; Callahan didn’t even bother to hide the fact that he had been staring at Aiden.

“I’m going to be his guardian once I pass the exam,” Callahan replied.

Aiden stared at him for a long moment, blinking slowly. Finally, with a wrinkle of his nose, he looked away. “Cool,” he said flatly. He got up and left the gymnasium.

“Was it just me, or was that kid really weird?” Vanessa said.

“Not just you,” Callahan replied with a shake of his head. 

They sat in silence for a few more moments before Vanessa spoke again.

“Speaking of weird, the fact that vampires go to feedings together is so bizarre. It’s like going out to a meal with a family, except your meal is a person’s blood.” 

“What brought this line of thought on?” Callahan asked with a chuckle. 

“I saw Lucian and his dad going to the feeders a bit ago,” Vanessa said. “It’s just so weird that they would do that sort of thing together. Shouldn’t that be a private matter?” Vanessa grimaced. She continued muttering about the indecency of feeding around others, but Callahan had tuned her out.

Lucian didn’t do well when it came to feeding. Generally he puked up whatever he did manage to get down. It was this fact that had gotten Callahan an in with him in the first place, but Callahan wasn't thinking about why he had needed an in with Lucian. He wasn't thinking about why he needed Lucian. He was just thinking about Lucian.

“Sorry,” Callahan said, cutting Vanessa off mid-rant, “I have something I have to do.”

“Oh, alright, see you,” Vanessa said. She waved after him as Callahan hurriedly left the gymnasium.

* * *

I sat on the edge of my bed, staring at my feet where they dangled above the floor. My hair dripped onto the floorboards. Small puddles had collected beneath me. My fingers plucked ideally at the threads of the towel that wrapped around my waist. My throat was still sore from vomiting and despite brushing my teeth at least eight times, I could still taste the feeder’s blood sitting stalely on my tongue.

My hands clenched into fists on the towel as my stomach twisted weakly. It had been a long time since I had felt this ill after a feeding. Then again, it had been a long time since I had fed with my father. It didn’t help matters that I had seen Raife today for the first time in years. 

Raife was my father’s closest friends. I had grown up seeing him as something of an uncle figure. Whenever he visited from court, he would bring me gifts. He would also bring Aiden with him. Aiden was the only vampire my age I knew growing up. I hadn’t given him the time of day the first few years we had known each other, but he had followed me around constantly, like a devoted puppy. Even if I yelled at him to go away, he would only leave me alone for a few hours before finding me later. Eventually I had given up trying to get him to go away and had begrudgingly allowed him to remain in my company, which made us friends as far as either of us were concerned. We barely talked to each other and generally just read books in each other’s company or took naps. He was something like my shadow when he visited my father’s estate with Raife, which meant that, when he was gone, it had always felt like something was missing.

Whenever Raife visited my father’s estate, the pair would hold get togethers with their closest acquaintances. These…events were essentially group feedings, a fact that Aiden and I had discovered when Raife had brought us to one. That had been the first time I had fed in public. I’d never been more embarrassed than I had when Raife had smiled down at me where I lay on the couch as a female feeder climbed off at me. My cheeks had felt like they’d been on fire and my thirteen-year-old self had popped the biggest boner imaginably. Aiden had grabbed me and pulled me out of the parlor room.

A soft knock on the door made my head jerk up. I cocked my head as I stared at the door. The knock came again. I stood up from the bed and, gripping my towel around my waist, crossed the room. I pulled the door open a crack.

Callahan stood in the hall. He lowered his hand as I opened the door slightly. 

“Hey,” he said. His forehead was creased with worry as he stared down at me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. 

“I, um—“ Callahan glanced around. “Can I come in?”

I shrugged. I stepped away from the door and walked back to the bed. I resumed my perch on the edge of the mattress. Callahan stepped inside. He shut the door softly behind himself.

“You seemed a bit…off when you saw your father,” Callahan said. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” I said tersely. I didn’t like the fact that he had picked up on that.

“Fine, like how you were after the heat?” Callahan asked. He leaned back against the door and slipped his hands into his pockets.

I stared down at the floor. I didn’t like this. I didn’t like him asking after my well-being. I didn’t like him knowing that I wasn’t fine. I didn’t like him being here. I didn’t like—

Warm fabric draped over my shoulders. My head jerked up. Callhan tucked his jacket around my bare torso as he sat down on the mattress beside me.

“You’re going to catch a cold if you sit around half-naked after taking a shower,” he said. 

I shrugged.

“What’s the matter, Lu?” Callahan said. “You don’t look so good.”

“Fine,” I muttered. I continued to stare down at the floor. A drop of water rolled down my nose and dripped into the puddle of shower water that had already collected on the floor.

Callahan rested a hand on my shoulder. He didn’t say anything—I would have punched him if he had and he probably knew that. He just sat there as tears continued to roll down my cheeks. I ducked my chin against my shoulder so he couldn’t see my face as my nose started dripping as well. 

Callahan gave me a few minutes of silent crying before speaking. “Did you get sick after feeding?” he asked quietly.

I nodded.

Callahan picked up the sleeve of his hoodie and brought it to my face. I snatched it from his hand and quickly wiped my face myself. 

“You can go away,” I muttered. “I don't need your blood.”

“I’m not here to give you my blood,” Callahan said. “I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

I looked up at him and blinked wetly up at him.

“Jeez,” Callahan muttered. “How do you manage to look good with snot on your face?”

“I don’t have snot on my face,” I said with a whine. I hurriedly wiped my face clean on his hoodie sleeve again just in case. 

“What happened, Lu?” Callahan asked.

“A lot,” I mumbled. “Today’s just been…a lot.”

“Because your father’s here?” Callahan guessed.

I gritted my teeth. He was asking all the right questions and saying all the right things and I hated it. 

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I snapped. I shoved to my feet and crossed to the dresser. I shrugged off his hoodie as I pulled out a t-shirt.

Callahan didn’t say anything as I pulled sweats on under the towel. I grabbed the towel and hurled it in the direction of the laundry bin. Callahan still didn’t say anything. I bent and grabbed his hoodie. I turned to him and threw the hoodie at him. Callahan caught it before it smacked him in the face.

“You can go now,” I said in a tight voice.

“Lucian, you can talk to me if you need to.”

“Fuck,” I hissed. I pressed the heel of hand against my forehead. “Can you cut it out?”

“Cut what out?” Callahan asked.

“Acting like you give a shit,” I snapped. “We’re not mates and we’re not friends, so stop acting like you care.”

“Lu, I’m not acting,” Callahan said in a low voice. 

“Then what’s the fucking deal?” I shot at him. I stomped across the room and glared down at him. “You suddenly care about my feelings, about my well-being? Why? Because of the fucking mark?”

“No,” Callahan said quietly. “Not because of the mark.”

“Then what’s the _deal_?” 

“I care,” Callahan said as he gazed down at his steepled fingers. “About your feelings. About your well-being. I care about you.”

My face contorted in confusion. I stared at him in stunned silence for a moment. “What?” I finally whispered.

“I care about you,” Callahan said with a shrug, “and it has nothing to do with the mark or the bond we had. I just…care.”He looked up at me and offered me a small smile.

I took a sharp step back. My teeth sunk into my lower lip and I stared at him with wide eyes. 

“I like you, Lu.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> godddddd is this chapter any good i don't even know it took for ever to write ugh whatever i gotta blast so i don't get a ticket


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote the first scene listening to this song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym6DU9Nzh1s for maximum heart break listen to it while you read!
> 
> my best bud isms.cosplay (on IG) has been drawing some amazing shit for this story!   
> https://68.media.tumblr.com/2d0617d2cf1acd26a5346cc3cca067a1/tumblr_ov2eqrfjbm1sfbu0eo1_1280.jpg  
> https://68.media.tumblr.com/946e9b7a8f84ae62b629cb171866f6ea/tumblr_ov2eqrfjbm1sfbu0eo2_1280.jpg  
> https://68.media.tumblr.com/18793c75d04018b942e20ab91ad4d6b7/tumblr_ov2eqrfjbm1sfbu0eo4_1280.jpg  
> they have all the spoilers for the story so they also have sneak peek pics of what's to come, but i won't post those yet ;)
> 
> they also rec'd this great song for callu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byCE07985oE

_I like you, Lu_. Callahan’s words swam in my head as I stared down at him. My eyes were wide and my entire body was so stiff I began to tremble from head to foot. I couldn’t process what he had just said; it didn’t make sense; I didn’t understand. What was he saying? What _on earth_ _was he saying?_  I sucked in a slow breath of air. 

It didn’t make sense because it wasn’t true. Callahan didn’t actually like me. He was just saying that because he wanted sex. If we fucked, he’d realized this and we could put this all behind us.

“Lu—“

I shot forward and caught Callahan’s face in my hands. He gasped in surprise. I slammed my lips against his. My fingers dug into the back of his skull. I climbed into his lap. Callahan’s confused words came out as muffled grunts. I dragged my tongue over his lips as I carded my fingers through his hair. I ground my ass into his lap. Callahan caught my hips in his hands and tried to push me back. I slid my lips along his jawline and played my tongue over the dip below his ear lobe.

“Lucian, what, what are you doing?” Callahan panted. He pulled his head back to escape my mouth, but I continued to press against him. “Lucian, stop.”

I slid my hand down his chest and pushed my fingers below the waistband of his sweats. My other hand dropped to his shoulder. Callahan grabbed my biceps with bruising force.

“Lucian, _stop_.”

I gasped at the force of his word and jerked backward. My eyes widened and I buried my teeth into my bottom lip to muffle a long growl. That had definitely been an alpha order. Little prick had actually used an alpha order on me—we hadn’t even talked about that yet.

“Lu, what are you doing?” Callahan said as he held me at arms length. His eyes searched my face in confusion.

“What does it _look_ like?” I snapped. 

“Okay, yeah,” Callahan conceded, “it looks like you’re trying to jump my bones, but _why_?”

“Because you—you just…” I was feeling decidedly stupid as Callahan looked at me with utter confusion. I swallowed. My cheeks burned as I dropped my eyes to the mattress. I gritted my teeth. I refused to be the one who looked like an idiot here. He was the dumbass who thought he liked me after all. I tossed my head and pinned Callahan with a glare. “Let’s just fuck and end this,” I snapped at him.

“End what?” Callahan said with a slow shake of his head. “Me liking you? That’s not contingent on whether or not we have or haven’t fucked.”

“You only said it because you wanna fuck.” I jerked forward with the force of my words, but Callahan kept me in place with his grip of my arms.

“No I didn’t,” Callahan snapped. He was getting annoyed now; his eyes flashed angrily and his jaw tightened. “I said it because I like you. We were going to fuck regardless of whether I said it or not.”

“Oh, were we now?” I yelled at him.

“Of course we were,” Callahan shot back at me. “Think of the heats!”

“We never said we’d have sex when we’re in heat!”

Callahan gritted his teeth and his hands tightened on my arms. I suppressed a small wince of pain. Callahan sighed quietly and inclined his head in agreement.

“All the same,” he said in a low voice. He was trying to collect his anger now. “I don’t have any ulterior motives when I said I like you. I really do; like you that is. Sure, you’re a git most of time, but I don’t much mind that except when you’re fracturing people’s sternums.”

I pursed my lips and jerked my eyes away from Callahan’s. My cheeks burned lightly with a flush of embarrassment.

“I like spending time with you when we aren’t at each other’s throats,” Callahan continued. “You’re rather self-absorbed at times, but you’ve done so much for me at no benefit to yourself. I’ve really appreciated all you’ve done. And on top that, I really do enjoy your company.”

I swallowed and continued to keep my gaze averted from his. Callahan sighed quietly.

“I felt something was up at the estate, but I chalked that up to the blood bond. When that feeling didn’t go away with the bond…” Callahan shrugged. His grip loosened on my arms and his hands fell into the crook of my elbows. 

I released a trembling sigh. I didn’t like this. Once again this didn’t make sense. What was I supposed to do _now_? No one had ever said they liked me before. Was I suppose to like him back? What if I didn’t? What if I _did_? I knew I didn’t dislike Callahan, but I had no idea how I felt about him beyond that. I didn’t mind his company; in fact I quite enjoyed it. He was also the closest person I had to a friend right now. But he was a shifter, and an alpha at that. I couldn’t have casual sex with an alpha shifter, let alone be friends with one. The thought made a small lump grow in the back of my throat. My lips twisted and my eyes stung.

“Hey,” Callahan said softly. He reached up and cupped my face in his hand. “You don’t need to think so hard about this. I like you, sure, but that doesn’t mean you have to feel one way or the other about me now. This doesn’t change things, okay?”

It didn’t change things. Nothing could change things. Things were the way they were and they weren’t going to change no matter how Callahan felt and no matter how I felt.

“Do, do say something though,” Callahan said. There was a slight plea buried in his tone. “Don’t leave me in the lurch.” He gave a small, awkward chuckle.

“It, it doesn’t matter,” I murmured. I slipped my arms free of his hands and slid out of his lap. “How we feel…doesn’t matter.” I shook my head slowly. “This doesn’t change anything, but you, you should go.” I stepped aside and gestured toward the door. 

Callahan stared up at me for a long moment. I kept my gaze averted. I didn’t want to know what expression he was directing at me. My hand started to shake as I continued to hold it out toward the door. I tucked my chin against my chest. My face contorted and I gritted my teeth painfully hard. 

This hurt. This hurt more than I could even comprehend. We had both said this wouldn’t change things, but if he left this room then we could never go forward that way. We would always be stuck in this limbo of not-friends; not-lovers; not-mates. But he needed to leave. We couldn’t be any of those things, mark or no mark. That just wasn’t how things could be for us. My father would never allow it. And yet I desperately needed Callahan to stay; to ignore my request and _stay_.

Callahan rose to his feet. My breath caught in my throat. He moved toward me. He slipped his hand behind my head and cupped the base of my neck. His warm hand pressed against the mark. He bent down and carefully placed a small kiss on my forehead. The air left my lips in a stuttering gasp. 

Callahan left. 

* * *

The following week ground forward painfully slow. Despite the ache that had taken up residence in my chest, I still went to my classes. We had to act like nothing had changed; that everything was the same. Best way to do that was to stick to the same old routine.

Callahan didn’t share this sentiment. He wasn’t present at my magic or the self-defense classes. I caught sight of him every once and while in the dinning hall, but he never looked my way.

By the end of the fifth night I was decidedly pissed off. Callahan had said nothing would change. _Everything_ had changed and I hated him for it. I wanted to see him every day; I wanted to talk to him every day. I didn’t want him to ignore me; to avoid me. He was the only person on campus I was relatively close to and now he wouldn’t even look my way for more than two seconds. He was the lucky one here. He had friends. He had Vanessa and Sam and Lionel and Luke—and I swore to God if I saw Luke pat Callahan on the shoulder one more time as he sat down at their table I’d hurl myself across the room and go for his throat. I had nobody because none of the shifters were talking to me. They could tell something was up with me and Callahan and of course they took Callahan’s side. 

I maintained my routine to such an extent that I even found myself in the chapel right when mass was starting. This had more to do with not being able to sleep the day before and less to do with any real desire to be up and about at this hour.

I found my usual spot in an empty pew at the back of the hall and settled in to listen to Alistair’s calming voice. I didn’t even listen to what he was actually saying. Just the cadence of his voice was enough to put me at ease. If it had just been him and I in the chapel with him speaking, I could have completely lost myself in his words. As it was, I always felt a touch uneasy with so many people around. On top of that, I was sure Callahan was somewhere in the building even though I couldn’t find him. That made me incredibly nervous. What if he was staring at me right now and I had no idea? I hunkered lower in the pew and focused on Alistair’s voice. 

Some two hours later and Alistair brought the mass to a close. I remained where I sat until about half of the attendees had cleared out. I soon realized that if I stayed until everyone was gone, Alistair would come over to chat. I hadn’t talked to him for a while and I missed basking in his sexiness, but I really didn’t want to talk to anyone right now. I bolted out of the pew and hurried out of the chapel. I had the rest of the night to do with as I wished and I opted to stay in my room sleeping on and off. 

 

The sharp, piercing sound of an alarm tore through the silence of my dorm room. I jerked upright in bed. The sound was horribly loud in my room since there was an alarm just outside my door. I slammed my hands over my ears and hunkered over my knees. I peeked over my shoulder at the clock on my bedside table. It was three in the afternoon why the hell was a sang alarm going off? There couldn’t possibly be an attack. If there were sangs in the woods around the Academy, they’d have enough cover from the sun not to fry immediately, but the shifters could easily take them out, unlike during the last attack when Holland had been bitten. 

The last attack. Callahan had been in the field last time. 

I twisted around on my bed and fetched my phone off the bedside table. I flicked it open and typed out a hurried text to Callahan. I didn’t care if he wanted radio silence between us, he wasn’t getting it during an attack.

**Me**  
_wher r u_

The alarm had thankfully cut off or else I would have had to endure a terrible headache. Since it was daytime and none of the vampires were out and about, we received text messages asking us to check in. I had a mini heart attack when my phone buzzed, thinking it was from Callahan, but it was only the automated message. I replied to it quickly and went back to tapping my phone impatiently on my knee.

A few, agonizing minutes later my phone buzzed again. This time it was from Callahan.

**Callahan**  
_In woods. I’m fine don’t worry_

I sighed in quiet relief and sent him a quick ‘ok’. Even if he had been fighting off a sang with one hand while texting me, he still would have said he was fine, but it was still a relief to at least hear from him.

I climbed out of bed and slipped a sweatshirt on over my t shirt. I kicked on a pair of slippers and left the dorm room. Finny still hadn’t returned to the upstairs from his self-inflicted exile so the floor was quiet, but as I began to descend the stairs I could hear my dorm mates scooting around their rooms.

I went down all four flights of stairs the dorm had to offer and found myself in the dimly lit basement. I padded quietly to the end of the hall and crouched down beside a pile of boxes. I slid them aside carefully to reveal a trapdoor. I caught the latch of the trapdoor and levered it open. It creaked loudly, but I wasn’t worried about anyone hearing it.

I dropped into the narrow, dusty tunnel below me. I didn’t bother with a light source despite the pitch black nature of the tunnel. My vampiric eyes adjusted immediately to the near impenetrable darkness and I set off down the familiar path.

The tunnels beneath the Academy weren’t well known of among the students. Myrna had found out about them last year from a senior she had been sleeping with. She had let me in on the well-kept secret and we had taken to using the tunnels to get off campus. The tunnels had been built as an escape route off campus for the vampires. The guardians on campus knew about them, and probably the vampire faculty and administration. I wondered aimlessly if Callahan knew about the tunnels as I turned down an offshoot. Myrna and I had been down here so often figuring out the layout of the tunnels that I could get where I needed to go with my eyes shut.

A few minutes later, I reached the end of the tunnel I was following. I was met with a set of metal rungs embedded into the mottled stone wall. I clambered up them and lifted the stone slab above my head easily with one hand. I set the slab carefully aside and climbed out of the hole. I replaced the stone tile and stood up. I straightened and brushed off my sweats.

I turned around and was greeted by the vast expanse of the chapel’s main room. The tunnel had let me out in the back corner behind the alter. The familiar, empty space brought a wash of calm over me. In my effort to maintain routine, I hadn’t skulked off to the chapel all week, save for when I was supposed to be there, and yesterday’s mass had hardly provided me with my sought after quiet.

A sharp scrabbling noise echoed around the chapel. I frowned and paced slowly out of the corner until I was level with the alter. I glanced around. The scratching sound came again from amongst the pews that stood to my left. I took another step forward.

A hunched creature moved into the aisle between the pews. Its withered limbs twisted around its body. Long, sickly claws scraped on the floor. Its jutting ribcage slid across the floor. A horrible scent of rot slammed my senses. I stumbled backward and caught the side of the alter. Nausea washed over me and I pressed a hand to my mouth.

The sanguine drew itself up onto its back legs. It released a long, rumbling growl from the depths of its chest. Its powerful jaw hung open, revealing a parade of dripping fangs. 

What the actual fuck was this monstrosity doing in here? This was the heart of the campus and that thing didn’t look like it had gotten into a single tussle getting here. On top of that there was the fact that it looked about twice as old as the sang from the Hemsworth estate. Seeing a single ray of sunshine should have made that thing implode. 

I didn’t have time for the myriad of questions that were crashing through my head. Regardless of _how_ , that thing was here and it would take a small miracle or me fighting at full strength to take it out. 

“Alistair,” I breathed, my eyes flashing around the chapel as if the priest would suddenly appear. “Alistair!”

The sang jerked around with a violent hiss. Its sunken red eyes found me and a twisted sneer split its face. 

“Alistair!” I called again.

The building remained quiet save for the grating snarl the sang issued.

“Looks like it’s just you and me,” I murmured. I pushed my hair back from my face and tied it in a half-bun. 

The sang cocked its head to the side. It opened its mouth and a low, disturbing noise rolled off its tongue as it dropped onto all fours. The rumbling continued; it was laughing. Jesus fuck, it was laughing. It creeped forward slowly, its head cocking to the side as it regarded me.

“My, my,” it murmured in a guttural voice, “you’re going to make this so easy for me.”

My head jerked back in horror when it spoke. My eyes went wide. This sang had a necromancer, and it had to be the same one from the estate; how could it not be? That would be a coincidence of stupid proportions. 

“There’s, there’s no one else here, right?” I said in a small, wavering voice as I stepped forward.

The sang released another wave of twisted laughter.

“You’re not gonna like that fact in a minute, pal,” I whispered.

We moved at the same moment. The sang launched itself into the air. I moved forward and ducked under its slicing arm. I kicked off the floor and snapped my foot back. It slammed into the sang’s side. A blow like that should have sent the thing flying, but this monstrosity was made of sturdier stuff. It stumbled slightly before latching onto my ankle with a deformed hand.

“Fuck.”

It hurled me across the room. I slammed into one of the chapel pillars. Pain lanced up my spine and the wind was knocked out of me. I fell onto my hands and knees. Stone fragments fell around me. I coughed and sucked in a lung full of air.

The clatter of claws on the marble floor alerted me to the approach of the sang. My head snapped up. The creature’s hand lashed back and descended on me. I shot to my feet and caught its wrist. I launched it over my back and it flew across the room. 

It landed with stone-shattering force against the wall. Its claws dug into the wall and it clung to the stone. Its head shot back and it released a long, feral roar. I straightened and kicked my slippers off beneath the damaged column I had collided with.

“You fight like a guardian,” it hissed as it dropped onto the floor. It skulked back and forth, eyeing me carefully.

“That’s how I was trained,” I said with a shrug.

“So you were trained like a dog,” it growled. It scuttled forward and pounced at me. 

“I don’t really want to hear shit talk from something that looks like a dried up testicle with arms.”

The sang and/or its necromancer seemed to have had enough of our banter. The creature unleashed another bone-chilling roar and launched itself at me once more. It attacked in earnest now, its arms a blur of movement. The air hissed as sickle like claws sliced at me. It took everything I had to parry the blows. It was faster than anything its age rightfully should be. 

One misstep and suddenly I was stumbling. The sang descended on me, burying its claws deep into my arm. It lifted me bodily off the floor and slammed be back down. The marble beneath me shattered. I cried out as pain enveloped my entire body. My vision blur. I coughed and blood splattered over my chin. The metallic liquid’s thick smell filled my nose. The sang got a strong whiff of it too. It leaned over me. Its eyes practically glowed with lust. Its long tongue slithered past its teeth and lapped up the blood on my chin. Disgust clawed at my throat and I cringed away from the creature.

The chapel doors were suddenly thrown open with a bang. The sang’s head snapped back. I didn’t need to look to know who was there. I whimpered in desperate relief as Callahan’s scent washed over me. The sang’s grip on my arm tightened. I cried out in pain and my vision went black.

The sound of wood splitting filled the air. I blinked my eyes open just in time to see one of the pews launched through air. It slammed into the sang and sent it flying through the air away from me. Its claws were ripped from my arm and I groaned in pain. I had half a mind to cuss Callahan out for this, but, as I rolled onto my stomach and stared toward the entrance of the chapel, I realized my words would fall on deaf ears.

Callahan stalked slowly down the aisle. His eyes were awash in a green glow. His ears were pointed and the muscles and bones of his face roiled as he tried to choke down the urge to shift. His jaw opened, revealing long, hooked fangs, and he _roared_. The sound ripped into me and made me cower on the floor.

The sang growled quietly as the noise buffeted it. It took a small step backward. Its face twisted in anger as it glared viciously at Callahan. The creature shoved forward with a feral cry. Callahan surged towards it. I scrambled backward out of the aisle and ducked between the pews. 

The pair met in a clash of claws and fangs in the center of the chapel. Their movements were a flurry. Despite the sang’s age and strength, Callahan held his own. He still hadn’t shifted into his half-human, half-shifter form, but it would seem he didn’t need to.

I sagged back against one the pew and held my shredded arm to my chest. Blood seeped into my sweatshirt. Between the smell and the loss of it, my head was starting to spin. 

Suddenly, the sang’s claw slashed across Callahan’s chest. He grunted and stumbled back. The sang slammed into him, pinning him to the floor in a mass of twisted limbs. Its head reared back. Its face split open as it opened its maw completely. It descended. Its fangs punctured Callahan’s shoulders. Blood splattered over the pair. Callahan howled in immeasurable pain. The sang dug its teeth in deep. Saliva coursed from its mouth into the open wound. A stuttering gasp left Callahan’s mouth and his eyes rolled back in his skull.

I screamed.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look at matthias's drawing of cal i am BLESSED https://68.media.tumblr.com/5b70b8ab21e1b13056ccae01ae1226c7/tumblr_ov64odb4Tx1sfbu0eo2_1280.jpg
> 
> cw: blood, gore

The scream ripped through the air around me, ear-piercing and haunting. It continued for so long I couldn’t imagine I had breath enough for it. It didn’t truly feel like it was coming from me. It finally tapered out, leaving my ears ringing. My eyes were rooted on Callahan. My breathing was ragged, fractured.

The sanguine’s head ripped backwards, tearing a chunk of Callahan’s flesh out of his shoulder. Callahan slumped to the floor. The creature’s long, purplish tongue lapped over its face.

My vision went red.

I clamped a hand around the ragged, bloody wounds that decorated my arm. My blood thrummed against my fingers, pulsating, eager. My fingers tightened. I could use it. I could use my blood. Callahan was out cold and minutes from going rabid if I didn’t do something. I wouldn’t be able to get ahold of the necromancer, but if I finished this fast enough the fucker wouldn’t even know what hit 'em.

I tightened my grip on my arm and dragged my hand over the wounds. Elemental magic flared within me. My blood coalesced over my skin, wreathing my hand in a crimson glove. I surged to my feet. The sang’s head whipped around as it sensed my movement. It reared off of Callahan and twisted toward me. I shot under its guard and slammed my blood-coated fist under its arm. The blood solidified and cut viciously through the creature’s shoulder joint with bone-crushing force. I caught hold of the sang’s arm with my other hand and ripped it free of the creature’s body. 

The sang screamed in pain. Buried in the haunting sound was a note of humanoid pain. Good. The necromancer needed to suffer too. 

My blood melted and dripped down my hand as I lost control of it. I hurled the creature’s severed limb away from me and punched the palm of my hand into its chest. Its ribcage caved. The creature flew backwards a good ten feet. It skidded across the floor. Its claws caught the marble and dragged it to a halt.

My blood thundered in my ears. I swayed slightly as the vermilion liquid dripped profusely down my arm. My vision quaked as rage filled me. My mouth felt hot and my fangs pressed against my gums. I clenched my blood coated hand into a tight fist.

I moved slowly, almost sluggishly down the aisle, leaving a trail of blood in my wake. I’d have to burn the whole church down when this was over. The sang hissed as I approached. Its claws dug into the marble floor. My blood was boiling in my veins. My skin was was a mess of burst veins. My fangs throbbed in my mouth. I parted my lips to make room for them and released a long, feral growl.

The sang dug its hooked claws deeper into the floor. Its eyes flashed. The necromancer was having trouble forcing the sang to stay and fight. I grinned. The sang snarled and ripped its claws out of the marble, sending shards flying. It released a ear-shattering roar and lunged forward. 

I met it three quarters of the way down the aisle. I ducked beneath its swiping claws. I formed the coagulating blood into a blade, wreathing my hand. I sliced the jagged edge across the sang’s leg, severing it at the joint. It screamed. I twisted around and lashed out again. My blood cut cleanly through the bulbous joint of its elbow. Bone crunched. The creature howled in pain. It twisted grotesquely away from me, blood spraying from the stumps. It fell backward in a disorientated heap of limbs. The jutting vertebrae of its spine dug into the floor as it thrashed desperately. Its remaining limb flailed out. The claws bit into my shins, but I ignored the pain. I jerked my blood-covered hand back and brought it down with a sickening crunch on the creature’s knee. The jointed shattered, bone shards puncturing the putrid gray skin. 

Blood streamed from my wounds, but I had exhausted my elemental magic. My body wasn’t exhausted quite yet. I stalked forward and dropped on top of the sang’s chest. I slammed my palms against the protruding ribs, pinning the creature in place. It howled and tossed its head frantically. Its face contorted with pain. Its eyes rolled madly in their sockets. 

“You should have severed control sooner,” I hissed as I hovered over the sang’s face. “The pain is anchoring you to its mind.” My face split in a large grin. “I’m not complaining though.” 

I dug my fingers into the creature’s chest and began to tear. The creature screamed and this time only the necromancer’s voice left the gaping jaws. It was a horrible, twisted sound of unimaginable pain. I reveled in it.

I split the creatures skin, buried my fingers into the fragmented sternum, and tore it open. I peeled the rib cage apart, revealing the creature’s shriveled, pulsating heart. My jaw opened wide; I dove into its gaping chest; and ripped its heart out with my teeth.

* * *

Callahan stirred on the floor of the church. His body was consumed in violent shudders as heat pulsed through him. His shoulder burned and throbbed. He hissed in pain and sat up carefully on his elbow. He blinked his eyes open. The sight that met his gaze ripped a horrified gasp from his lips.

Lucian was crouched over the tattered remains of the sang. His arms were elbow deep in the eviscerated chest of the creature. His head was bowed. At the sound of Callahan’s breath escaping his mouth, Lucian’s head jerked back. A shriveled, mangled hunk of flesh dangled from his mouth. It was the sanguine’s heart Callahan realized in horror.

Lucian’s mouth parted and the heart dropped with a wet plop into the sang’s cavernous chest. Lucian crawled over the body. His eyes were a molten crimson as he crawled over the sang’s corpse. Was he in a blood frenzy? Callahan had no idea; he'd never seen a vampire in a frenzy before, but he didn't think for a second that the state of Lucian's eyes boded well for him. Callahan pushed backward on the floor, but pain lanced through his shoulder and he fell back on the floor with gasp.

Lucian darted forward. His blood-coated hands grabbed Callahan’s ankles and yanked him across the floor. Callahan grunted in pain. Lucian clambered on top of him. He tilted his head to the side as he appraised Callahan’s face. Callahan’s vision blurred and he blinked hurriedly to clear it. He could feel his body succumbing to the pain and fever, but he forced himself to stay conscious.

Lucian reached out and traced his fingertips over Callahan’s face, leaving a smear of blood. The tension left Lucian’s face and he gazed softly down at Callahan. His face was still a mess of blood and burst veins, but he looked gentle now.

A stab of pain shot through Callahan’s shoulder and he gritted his teeth in pain. Lucian’s eyes flashed to the wound on his shoulder and he hissed. Callahan twisted his head to the side. He gaped in horror at the wound. An entire chunk had been ripped from his shoulder. The exposed flesh was a putrid brown. His blood was a mixture of green pus. 

_That’s right,_ he thought distantly as his head dropped back on the marble and he stared up at the ceiling, _I got bit by a sang_. It wouldn’t be long now before he went rabid. He reached up and rested his hand on Lucian’s hip. At least it would be Lucian who put him down.

Lucian suddenly reared back. His mouth split open and he brought his glistening teeth to Callahan’s shoulders. Callahan cried out in pain and confusion as Lucian bit into him. 

“Stop, no,” he whispered weakly. “That blood will kill you.” Poisoned as it was by the sang’s saliva, Callahan’s blood was now undrinkable to vampires.

Lucian ignored his plea and began to drink. The vampire’s body shuddered and convulsed as he lapped up the fetid liquid. Callahan groaned and his eyes fluttered shut. The last thing he heard was a distant sob as Lucian continued to drink.

* * *

The disgusting, putrid taste of tainted blood rooted me in my mind once more. My eyes sprang open. I wasn’t sure how long I had lost myself for, but I most certainly had succumbed to a small blood frenzy. This wouldn't be the first time that had happened. I unlatched my jaws and sat back.

Callahan lay beneath me. He was unconscious and radiated heat like a small furnace. His breathing came in wet pants. The smell of his blood filled my nostrils, making my head spin. There was sickly sweet twist to the familiar scent. I whimpered and my eyes flashed to his shoulder. The blood that dripped slowly from the gouge wound was tainted a dull green, but for the most part it looked like I had gotten most of the sang’s saliva out of Cal’s blood. The painful burn in my throat and the hot, heavy feeling in my stomach suggested I had drunk a substantial amount of his blood. I needed to get it all out however, or he’d go rabid. 

I leaned forward, but suddenly the chapel doors burst open once again. Vanessa ran into the building. She stumbled to a halt at the sight of Callahan me. Her face twisted in shock. Sam and Lionel slammed to a halt beside her.

“Lucian, holy fuck, are you okay?” Vanessa breathed as she stared at my blood-covered form. Before I could answer, her nostrils flared and her eyes shot to Callahan. “Oh my god, Cal.” She started forward, but Sam caught her arm.

“Lucian,” Sam said in an authoritative voice. “Move away from the compromised shifter _now_.”

Lionel had started to move slowly around the perimeter of the room as the other shifter spoke.

Panic seized my throat as I stared at the shifters. My hands clenched into fists on Callahan’s chest. My breathing came in short gasps. Vanessa pulled away from Sam and she raised her chin.

“Lucian,” she said quietly, “Cal got bit, right? He’s going to go ra—“

“No he's not!” I screamed at her.

The pair of shifters started back in unison.

“Give him time,” I shouted at them. “He’ll be fine!” He’d have a much better chance of being fine if I had been able to drink more of his blood, but I couldn’t do that in front of the shifters. 

“Lucian,” Vanessa repeated carefully as she took a step forward.

“Stay back!” I surged to feet and slammed my foot into the pew beside me with all my might.

It flew across the room. Lionel, who had been skulking his way toward us, was drilled into the wall by the pew with a loud crash. He cried out in pain and sagged against the pew.

“Lu!” Vanessa snarled and she started forward. “I want to have faith in Cal too that he can fight this off, but we can’t gamble your life, and you know him! He’d rather die than go rabid!” 

“He’s not going _rabid!_ ” I was shaking from head to toe now with near unbridled fury. 

“We’re putting him down, Lu,” Vanessa snapped as she stalked down the aisle. “You don’t get a say in this.”

“He’s my shifter! I get the _only_ say!” And with that I flew down the aisle toward her. 

I lashed out with a tight fist. Vanessa ducked under the swing and slammed her knee into my chest. I smashed against a pew. I dug my fingers into the wood and ripped off a chunk. I spun and swiped the fragment at Vanessa’s face. She dodged back, but one of the shards sliced across her face. 

Sam darted behind Vanessa down the aisle toward Callahan.

“Don’t even fucking think about it!” I screamed as I hurled myself onto the shifters back.

We fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs. Sam’s elbow slammed into my injured arm and I cried out. My vision blurred with pain. She took the opportunity to pin me on my stomach, one hand twisting my uninjured arm behind my back, the other pinned on the back of my neck.

Vanessa raced down the aisle to Callahan. I yelled at her furiously as I thrashed against Sam’s hold, but she ignored me. She dropped to her knees beside Callahan. Her hand flew to his neck to check his pulse. 

“Fuck,” she whispered. She closed her eyes and shook her head.

“No!” I yelled. “No! He’s fine; give him time!” 

I twisted viciously beneath Sam. I yanked forward out of Sam’s hold. Her claws sliced across the back of my neck. I cried out as pain shot down my spine.

Vanessa suddenly yelled in horror as Callahan’s hand flashed out and locked around her neck. Her cry was choked off. Callahan’s claws dug into the side of her neck. He flipped them over and pinned her to the floor. Blind rage contorted his face as he loomed over her.


	20. Chapter Twenty

Callahan snarled viciously down at the shifter that was pinned beneath him by a set of claws to their throat. Vicious rage blurred Callahan’s vision. His body quaked with the emotion, sending his thoughts tumbling incomprehensibly. His blood burned beneath his skin.

“Cal.” Lucian’s voice whispered to him from some distance away.

Callahan’s head snapped back. Lucian was pressed back against another shifter who had their arms around him. Callahan’s mark was scared, confused; Callahan could feel these emotions burning inside of him, just as easily as he could see them written on Lucian's face.

“Sam, let Lu go. Let him _go_.” The voice vibrated from beneath Callahan's hand.

The shifter behind Lucian released him slowly and hedged carefully away from Lucian. Lucian bit his lip as he stared up at Callahan. Callahan growled quietly and his grip tightened on the shifter’s throat.

“Lu reassure him." 

Lucian’s eyes widened and he nodded slowly. He crawled forward slowly and held out his hand—appeasing, begging—toward Callahan. 

“Cal,” he whispered, “I’m fine; I’m safe.” His hand was trembling as he continued to close the gap between himself and Callahan, slowly, carefully.

Callahan growled. His grip tightened around the shifter’s neck and he hurled them aside. They cried out weakly as they slammed into the side of a pew. Callahan shot forward. Lucian flinched, but stayed put. Callahan grabbed his mark. One of his hands wrapped around his arm; the other clamped down on the back of his neck. He could feel their mark burning beneath his fingers. He shoved his face into the crook of Lucian’s neck. He pressed against the blood-damp locks and breathed in deeply. The rage began to quell.

“I’m fine,” Lucian murmured again as he slid his hands over Callahan's chest.

Callahan breathed a long sigh of relief. He scraped his teeth over Lucian's neck, nipping and sucking carefully. Lucian bent his head back as best he could with Callahan’s hand bracing his nape, and bared his neck to his alpha. 

A sharp pang shot up Callahan’s arm and he fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

Callahan blinked his eyes open slowly. A high white ceiling greeted him. The air was cool, drafty, and carried the scent of disinfect. He was in the infirmary. His head rolled to the side. His eyes widened slightly in surprise.

Lucian sat in a chair beside the bed. His feet were propped up on the side of the mattress. His arms were tucked between his thighs. The right one was heavily bandaged. His head lolled to the side and his eyes were closed. He was breathing evenly, his chest rising and falling slowly with each breathe. Callahan stared at his thin collar bones that protruded from the neck of his black t-shirt. Lucian’s blond locks were clipped to his shoulders in a fresh bob. 

Callahan sat up carefully. He groaned at the stiffness. He sat back against the wall and rolled his shoulders slightly. His head felt foggy; his thoughts heavy. He couldn’t quite pinpoint the last memory he had in the church. He could remember the horrible, ripping sensation of pain in his shoulder; vibrant red eyes; and Lucian’s weight on his chest.

Callahan shifted to the edge of the mattress and reached out. He rested his hand gently on Lucian’s knee.

The vampire jerked upright with a harsh gasp. His eyes jerked around the room frantically as he pitched out of his chair. His hands shot out and caught him on the side of the bed. Callahan grabbed his hands and squeezed them gently. 

“Lu!”

Lucian’s eyes found Callahan’s and he immediately relaxed. A soft sigh of relief left his lips.

“Cal,” he whispered. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.“You’re awake.” 

“How long have I not been?” Cal asked as he swung his legs slowly over the side of the mattress. His body wasn’t entirely thrilled by the act of moving.

“A little less than a day,” Lucian said with a shrug. His cheeks flushed slightly. He slid a hand free of Callahan's and ran his fingers slowly through his cropped hair.

Callahan reached out his own fingers over Lucian’s hair. Lucian’s eyes widened and he stiffened slightly under the gentle caress. Callahan rubbed the fresh cut ends between his fingers.

“I, I had to cut it because of all the blood that got in it; it was super gross and I couldn’t even get a brush through it,” Lucian babbled.

“I like it,” Callahan said with a small smile.

Lucian gave a small sigh of relief. His eyes flickered over Callahan’s face. Callahan stared at him evenly. He didn’t quite understand how Lucian had done what he had done, but somehow the vampire had managed to drink his blood with the sang’s poison in it. He had always known that Lucian was an anomaly compared to other vampires; that was why he had approached him in the first place. It would seem that his uniqueness stretched to an ability to drink blood that would melt any other vampire’s esophagus in a matter of seconds.

Callahan’s thoughts were abruptly cut short when Lucian suddenly shoved out of his seat and caught Callahan’s face in his hands. Lucian slammed his lips against Callahan's. Callahan grunted in surprise. His hands shot out and caught Lucian’s lips. The vampire clambered into his lap without breaking the kiss. His lean arms twined around Callahan’s neck. Callahan’s fingers pressed into Lucian’s hips with bruising force.

Lucian broke the kiss just as quickly as he had initiated it.

“I’m still mad at you by the way,” he snapped as he gave Callahan a light push.

“How come?” Callahan asked. Despite Lucian’s declaration, a fond smile spread over Callahan’s face.

“You fucking avoided me all week. You said nothing would change and then you refused to be in the same room as me!” Lucian glowered down at him with sharp yellow eyes.

Callahan’s smile faltered slightly as the memory of those eyes clouded with crimson filled his mind. He pushed the thought away.

“I thought you’d want space.”

“I didn’t—I _don’t_. You promised nothing would change.”

“I’m sorry,” Callahan said as he hooked a lock of hair behind Lucian’s ear.

“Just…don’t avoid me again,” Lucian muttered. He dropped my gaze to the bed. 

“I won’t; I promise.”

Lucian gave a sharp nod. He shifted slightly in Callahan’s lap and blush rose in cheeks. Callahan slid his hands to the small of Lucian’s back and laced his fingers together.

“What happened?” Callahan asked. “Last thing I remember is you…” Callahan’s eyes to Lucian’s mouth.

“Uh, yeah.” Lucian licked his lips hesitantly. “Vanessa, Sam, and Lionel showed up at the church. I guess they had followed you there or something ‘cause you wigged out and bolted during your patrol. We had an altercation of sorts.” Lucian twisted his fingers nervously behind Callahan’s neck. “They kept talking shit about putting you down because you’d gotten bit. Sam and I got in a tussle. That’s when you woke up. Sort of. You were in, like, full alpha mode.”

“Alpha mode?” Callahan raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Lucian said a touch snippily. “See.” He tilted his head back to reveal his neck. A collection of bruises and small nip marks covered his pale skin. “Do you know how embarrassing it is to get your neck sucked by a shifter in front of a bunch of other shifters? Super fucking embarrassing.” Lucian huffed and dropped his chin to his chest.  “Vanessa knew why you did that, but Sam and Lionel had no idea what the fuck was going on. And I had to let you fucking nibble me and be all submissive and shit to calm you down.” Lucian glared up at him, but the expression looked more pouty than anything else.

“Ah, yes, and you hate being submissive,” Callahan said with a soft laugh.

Lucian scowled at him.

“What happened next?” Callahan said with a small grin.

“Then Vanessa stabbed you with one of those tranquilizers you guys carry in case someone goes rabid and you were out cold.” Lucian looked quite pleased about the ‘stabbing’ part that had occurred. The self-satisfied expression faded and Lucian’s gaze dropped to Callahan’s chest. 

“Then?” Callahan asked quietly. 

“Then…” Lucian’s lips twisted together. “Then Lionel went to search the church to see if it was clear. Ness and Sam were looking after our wounds. And then—“ Lucian gritted his teeth— “then there was this scream and then silence. Lionel came rushing back into the church like he’d seen a fucking ghost.” Lucian dropped his head back and stared up at the ceiling. He let out a heavy sigh. “Lionel had found Alistair in his office. Apparently he was blathering like a mad man. According to Lionel it was like he was having a conversation with himself. He said shit like ‘you failed’ and ‘please, I can fix this’. Then he stabbed himself in the chest with a silver dagger. That’s when he screamed.” Lucian shuddered in Callahan’s grip. He dropped his forehead to Callahan’s shoulder.

“So, that _priest_ —“ Callahan’s tone contorted the word into something disgusting—“was the necromancer.”

Lucian nodded.

Callahan couldn’t share Lucian’s feelings of shock and horror at the demise of Alistair. All he felt was a twist regret that he hadn’t been the one to rip Alistair’s life from him for what he’d put Lucian through.

“It’s over then,” Callahan said. He rubbed small circles into Lucian’s back with his thumbs. “It’s all over.”

“Cal,” Lucian murmured as he pulled back Callahan. He gazed up at him with warm yellow eyes. “It’s not over. Alistair—he didn’t kill himself; someone killed him. That conversation he was having was with another vampire.”

“You don’t mean,” Callahan breathed.

“There’s another necromancer and that one can control living vampires,” Lucian said. His arms tightened around Callahan’s neck.

“Is that even possible?”

“Yeah, it is,” Lucian said quietly.

Callahan untangled his fingers and raised his hands to Lucian’s face. He cupped the vampire’s face carefully in his hands and tilted his head back to meet his gaze.

“It’s over for now, Lu,” he said with a small smile. “Don’t worry.” He leaned forward and pressed a small kiss to Lucian’s forehead. “We’ll deal with whatever comes next, but for now just take a breath. You’re safe.”

Lucian sighed. He nodded slowly and the tension left his shoulders. He relaxed in Callahan’s lap.

For now, Callahan’s main concern was for what would end up in the incident report. As of right now, according to Lucian, the report only included Vanessa, Sam, and Lionel’s testimony of what they had seen in the church. Morgan was hampering Lucian for a report, but the vampire had yet to supply one. Since he had been there from start to finish his assessment of what had happened was the most crucial. 

Lucian’s face morphed into a disgruntled scowl as he recounted this information to Callahan. 

“I can have done whatever you want in that church, Lucian,” Callahan said, “so say whatever in your report, and I’ll back it up.”

“So, you’re not, you’re not going to report me?” Lucian asked quietly. “I’m a security risk, aren’t I?”

“You are.” Callahan smiled and slid his hand over Lucian’s cheek to cradle his face. “But you’re a risk I can handle and one I’d rather not part with any time soon.”

Lucian’s face softened with relief and he gave a small smile.

“Thank you, Callahan,” he whispered.

* * *

“We’re getting noise complaints,” Callahan said as he shut his bedroom door behind him with his foot. He held a tray laden with food in his hands.

I glowered over at Callahan from where I sat cross-legged on his bed in a pair of briefs and one of his t-shirts.

“And who’s fault is that?” I snapped sulkily.

“Definitely yours,” Callahan said with a sagely nod. He crossed the room and put the tray on the bedside table. He dropped onto the bed behind me.

“Nuh-uh,” I grumbled as I leaned back against him. “You’re the one who keeps insisting on playing this stupid fucking game.” I slammed my thumbs down on the controller and returned my glare to the monitor on Callahan’s desk.

“You’re the one who absolutely sucks at it,” Callahan said. “And you yell every time you fuck up. I mean, really Lucian, how can you suck this badly at Super Smash Bros?”

“Fuck off,” I growled. “I don’t get these stupid controls.” I jammed my thumbs persistently against the buttons and stick thingy and mashed the trigger buttons with my fingers. My character promptly fell off the edge of the map to its demise. I snarled a slew of cuss words and hucked the controller over my shoulder.

Callahan chuckled quietly as he watched my antics. I flipped him off and scooted low on the mattress to prop my head on his hip.

“I’m bored,” I whined loudly.

“I’m sorry my room only has so much entertainment to offer,” Callahan said. He reached out and began to run his fingers carefully through his hair. “Maybe this is a sign you should go back to classes.”

I wrinkled my nose at the prospect and crossed my arms over my chest. I had spent the past five days in Callahan’s room. He was probably annoyed with my presence by now; if the noise complaints were anything to go by, the other shifters certainly were. But Callahan especially was being seriously inconvenienced by my being here. He had insisted on being all gentlemanly and giving me the bed to sleep in while he took the couch in the living room. That had been the arrangement for the first three nights anyway. Last night we had been so exhausted after watching a movie that we had fallen asleep in bed together. Callahan was weirdly prudish about this fact this morning and kept muttering apologies. 

There had been a decided awkward tension in the air the last few days. I certainly wanted to hook up with him and I doubted Callahan didn’t share that desire, but we still had things to work through on that front and I had been too preoccupied by thoughts of what had happened in the church to sit down and really hash out that conversation. Callahan had been content with entertaining me with video games to keep my mind off things. After all, there was a reason I didn’t want to go back to the vampire dormitory. If there really was a necromancer with a hard on for killing me who could control living vampires, the last thing I wanted was to be sleeping in a building full of potential puppets.

Since we were dealing with a necromancer with this ability, Eve Pryer had sent for vampires from the court with necromantic abilities to set up wards around the campus to prevent necromancers from being able to control any sort of vampire at the Academy. This was a long and expensive process and since necromancers were so rare, the head mistress had seen no reason to set up this line of defense before now.

The wards were just about set, so I’d be safe to go back to the dormitory soon. Part of me was glad to be going back to the dorm, since there was only so much to do in Callahan’s bedroom when we were in an awkward, no-fucking limbo. The other part of me would miss being around Callahan so much.

“I’ve been thinking,” Callahan said, breaking the lingering silence between us in a soft voice. His fingers continued to toy with my hair.

I glanced over at him. His eyes were trailing over the folds of the blanket between us.

“I’m going to take the guardian examination. I’ve set the date for this weekend.” Callahan finally raised his eyes to meet mine. “I’m leaving for the Center tomorrow.”

“Why, why so suddenly?” I asked. I sat up slowly and folded my knees to my chest. I knew there was a reason Callahan hadn’t taken the exam yet, and those reasons were personal. The exam had the potential to be deadly, but I felt that Callahan wasn’t worried about this aspect of it so much as others. 

Callahan sat up as well. He bent his knee and rested his arm on it. 

“After everything that happened, you need a full guardian looking after you, and it’s about time I bite the bullet and get this over with.”

“Why haven’t you taken it yet?” I asked slowly. 

“A large component of it tests you within your own mind,” Callahan explained. “A mind scape of sorts is created to make you face your greatest fears. It can…take a toll on shifters to go through that.” Callahan ran his hand through his hair. He was referring to the fact that some shifters killed themselves after the exam even if they did end passing. 

“There is…a lot that the mind scape could create for me to deal with,” Callahan continued.

“You don’t have to do this for me,” I murmured. I pressed my chin between my knees. 

“I’m also doing it for me, Lu,” Callahan said. He reached out and rested his hand on the back of my neck. “You’re just another reason of many to do it.”

I turned my head to face him. “Okay,” I said, “but, still, thanks.”

Callahan nodded. He leaned forward. I lifted my head from my knees. Callahan’s hand tightened on the back of my neck as he slotted his lips against mine. The kiss was soft, gentle, just his lips resting on mine. He pulled back after a moment.

“Cal,” I breathed against his lips.

“Yeah?”

“I, uh, I like you.”

“I know,” Callahan said with a slow smile. 

“I want things to…” I bit the lip.

“Stay the same?” Callahan offered. He released a small, slightly resigned sigh and pulled away from me.

“No,” I said with a shake of my head, “I want things to change.”

Callahan’s eyes widened and his lips parted in surprise. 

“I wanna, like, be together with you—“ I flushed and my eyes dropped quickly to the mattress—“and, like, hold hands in public and shit,” I mumbled under my breath. My face felt like it was completely on fire at this point. 

“But,” Callahan begin slowly. He didn’t much sound like he wanted to protest this, rather that he needed to. “Your father—“

“Cal, you almost went rabid,” I interrupted him. “If that sort of thing happens again, I don’t want it to happen before I’ve held your hand or gone on some dumbass dinner date with you. Certainly don't want it to happen 'fore we've fucked,” I grumbled under my breath to a small chuckle from Callahan. I squirmed under the weight of his eyes. This was stupidly embarrassing, but I couldn’t get myself to shut up. “And my father can just, like, chill the fuck out for five minutes. Me getting it on with a shifter won’t kill him and I can name, like, eight things he would hate me doing much more. So, like, whatever, and, yeah…”

“I like the sound of all of that,” Callahan said with a smile.

“Good,” I huffed, “‘cause you’re my guardian so you have to do whatever I want.”

“And you’re my mark,” Callahan said, “so you have to do whatever I want.”

"Great," I said. I hid a grin behind my hand. "Sounds like a plan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the first arc is complete! i still have so many more ideas for this story to don't go anywhere friends!


	21. Announcment

Hi all, thank you for your on-going support of Blood Bound. For information on the current situation of the story please check out my instagram post:

<https://www.instagram.com/p/BZEkVUOAp-F/?taken-by=kitsvnebi>


	22. ARC TWO: Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a rather short chapter, but i'm trying to get back on track with this story! thanks to everyone who has expressed interest in the blood bound extended version. Visit my instagram for more information on it:https://www.instagram.com/p/BZEkVUOAp-F/?taken-by=kitsvnebi
> 
> edit: i forgot to add; eden = aiden. i had to change his name because i'm babysitting a kid named aiden now LMAO

**** Eden paced restlessly back and forth across the ornate carpet that adorned the floor of the parlor. His eyes were on the artistically woven threads, but he wasn’t really seeing them. He gnawed nervously on the tip of his thumb as he continued his pacing.

Five years. It had been five years since he had last laid eyes on Lucian. He hadn’t been the least bit surprised by how he had found Lucian: clinging to his father’s arm. Despite everything his father had done to him, Lucian still worshipped the ground he walked on, or, at the very least, acted like he did. Lucian’s appearance hadn’t changed too much either. He had grown into his angled features, and his eyes, which had once looked too big for his face, now fit him better. He was as gorgeous as ever, of course, but he looked exhausted and a touch gaunt. 

“Eden.”

Eden halted abruptly and his head snapped around at the sound of his master’s voice. Raife sighed quietly as he closed the book he had been reading. His red-brown eyes moved to Eden’s face. The vampire guardian flushed and ducked his head.

“I-I’m sorry, sir,” he stuttered. “Was I bothering you?”

“Not bothering, Eden,” Raife said with a shake of his head. He held out his hand and gestured for Eden to approach.

Eden crossed the room to the lord’s armchair, which was set close to the softly burning fire. Raife continued to hold out his hand. Eden slipped his fingers over the older vampire’s palm.

“You’re worrying me,” Raife continued. “You’ve been on edge since we returned from the Academy. What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” Eden mumbled. He tucked his chin against his chest and stared down at Raife’s thumb as it glided over the back of his hand.

“Does it have to do with seeing Lucian again?” Raife asked quietly.

Eden flushed. He jerked his arm back, but Raife’s grip tightened, preventing his escape. Eden twisted his head away and stared down at the floor.

“It must have been hard to see him,” Raife continued. “You haven’t since he went to the Academy.”

Eden’s shoulders hunched up to his ears and he nodded slowly.

“Did you miss him?” Raife asked.

Eden sucked on his lower lip and kept his gaze averted.

“Eden, answer me.”

“Yes,” Eden said quickly. “Yes, sir. I, I did miss him.” 

“Did it upset you seeing him? Is that why you’re wearing a hole in my carpet?” Raife teased.

Eden gasped and quickly looked back at the carpet. Raife chuckled quietly.

“I’m teasing you,” he said.

“Oh,” Eden said with a flush of embarrassment. “Um, I guess, a little. I just—I want.” He bit his lip and locked his gaze on the floor in front of the toes of his boots.

“What do you want, Eden?” Raife murmured quietly.

“Lucian,” Eden breathed. 

“In what capacity?” Raife asked.

“ _Every_.”

Raife smiled as he ran his thumb over Eden’s knuckles.

“I’ll arrange it then.”

* * *

I wasn’t entirely on board the God boat, but that didn’t stop me from thanking Him profusely for the fact that the heavy, familiar ache in my stomach had blossomed while I was in the privacy of my own room, and not in public. Running out of class the last time I had been beset by a heat had been embarrassing to say the last.

I groaned quietly and hunched over my desk, resting my damp forehead to the cool wood. _What the fuck is up with him?_ I thought angrily as I pressed against the desk. It had barely been more than a week since Callahan’s last heat; why on Earth was he getting riled up again so soon?

My phone vibrated loudly on the desk, sending a sharp buzz through my skull. I jerked back with a gasp. My arm felt heavy as I reached out for my phone. I flipped it over.

Callahan was calling.

I gritted my teeth as my hand tightened around the phone. There was no way in fuck I was going to be on the phone with him for this. I pushed weakly to my feet. The vibration running up my arm was by no means helping the situation. I stumbled on rubbery legs to my bed and dropped onto it.

The warmth was ebbing slowly through my veins. My cock throbbed between my legs. I bit my lip as a long moan escaped my mouth.

The phone’s vibrations cut off. And promptly started up again. I growled as I slowly lifted the screen to eye level. Sure enough, Callahan was calling again. My dick twitched lightly at the sight of his name on the screen and the back of my neck started to prickle.

I screwed my eyes shut and shook my head. My cheeks were flooded with embarrassment and arousal by now. The call ended. I breathed a sigh of relief. 

About fifteen seconds later—seconds that I counted with each ragged breath—my phone buzzed shortly.

I blinked my eyes open. Callahan had left a voicemail. The groan I released morphed into a long moan as my cock pressed against the confines of my pants.

With shaking fingers I opened my phone and played the voice mail. Callahan’s voice leaked through the speaker and shot straight to my cock.

“Lucian.”

A whimpering moan left my mouth and I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Call me. Right now.”

The authoritative tone shot straight to my cock. I whimpered and slid my hand between my legs. I pressed the heel of my hand down on my cock and choked on a long moan.

My thumb flew across the screen, quickly obeying Callahan’s command. I clicked the speaker phone option and the sharp ring broke the silence.

Callahan picked up immediately.

“Lucian, why didn’t you answer?” Callahan snapped.

I shoved my face quickly into my pillow to stifle a long moan.

“Lucian,” Callahan repeated. There was a hard edge to his tone.

I swallowed and pulled my face away from the pillow.

“What…the fuck?” I panted quietly. I pressed my heel harder against my cock. Heat pooled in my stomach, sending sharp flares through my limbs. “Why are you having a fucking heat?”

“The examiners chemically induce one a few days before the guardian exam. It’s protocol,” Callahan snapped. There was evident impatience in his tone. “Why didn’t you answer?”

“I’m not—“ I huffed a quiet gasp as my hand slid down the front of my pants and grasped my cock. “I’m not having phone sex with you,” I finally worked out.

“Lucian.”

I whimpered loudly and my fingers gripped the comforter. My other hand tightened around my cock. I heard Callahan’s breath catch on the other end of the line.

“We’re doing this,” he said in a tight voice.

I didn’t need him to tell me twice. My mind had already been reduced to a complete haze. I pushed my fingers into my mouth as I quickly worked my sweatpants and briefs off.

“Why couldn’t I have come with you?” I moaned around my fingers as I began roughly working my length with my other hand.

Callahan stifled a small grunt on the other end of the line. I pulled my fingers out of my mouth with a wet pop. Callahan released a short gasp. I wondered if he had been touching himself even before he had called me; if he had started getting off on the mere thought of me.

“I wanna do this person,” I whined into the phone. “This is embarrassing.” I mumbled the last words mostly into the mattress as I slid my hand behind my back.

“That doesn’t seem to be stopping you,” Callahan huffed.

I moaned quietly as I pushed up onto my knees. My cheek pressed against the mattress and I panted quietly against the phone, which was mere inches from my lips.

“Sh-shut up,” I whispered. My wet fingers rubbed slowly over my puckered hole.

“Finger yourself,” Callahan said sharply. “Now.”

“Fuck.” I slid my middle finger into my hole. My hips jerked violently from the quick penetration. I bit my lip as I let out a pained whimper.

“Careful,” Callahan said with a low chuckle. “Do it slowly.”

I whined and my toes curled on the mattress. My body was steadily beginning to shake from the intense, heated arousal. My hand tightened around my cock as I drew my finger out carefully and thrust it back in. A stuttering gasp left my lips.

“Shit,” Callahan hissed in a tight voice.

“C-Callahan, are you, are you—?” A sharp curl of my own finger cut me off.

“Yeah,” Callahan grunted, “fuck, yeah. Fuck, I wish you were here.”

My hips shook as I continued to thrust my finger in it out. My hand jerked weakly and sporadically over my cock. 

“You should have brought me,” I moaned into the phone.

“I didn’t know they would do this,” Callahan said between gritted teeth. “Lu,” he breathed, “put in another finger.”

“Mm.” I nodded against the mattress as I carefully worked my forefinger in beside the first one. I groaned at the stretch. My fingers were still a bit slick, but not enough. “Fuck I need lube.”

Callahan hummed in agreement. I slipped my fingers out with a soft whine of disappointment. I crawled quickly to the edge of the bed and yanked open my bedside drawer. I scrabbled around with shaking hands for several seconds before latching onto the bottle of lube. I fell back on the bed beside the phone and rolled to face it.

“G-got it,” I stuttered.

“Good,” Callahan said. “Now, fuck yourself.”

I whimpered and nodded quickly. I panted desperately as I squirted a dollop of lube into my hand. I slicked my fingers and pushed back onto my knees.

“Tell me what you’re doing,” Callahan breathed.

“I, mm.” I bit my lip as I flushed in embarrassment.

“Lu.” Callahan’s voice was low, commanding, and made my cock twitch almost violently.

“I’m, I’m putting my finger in,” I said in a quiet voice as I worked my middle finger back inside. 

“What position are you in?” Callahan murmured.

“On my knees,” I whispered. My voice was barely audible, but the sharp intake of breath told me Callahan had heard me. Hot precome pooled on the tip of my cock. I rubbed my thumb over the crown and moaned into the phone. The thought of Callahan getting off to what I was doing emboldened me, and loosened my tongue quite a bit. “I’m touching myself, ’nd putting in another fing—fuck.” I cut off as my hole stretched around both fingers. 

“Fuck yourself. Hard,” Callahan said in a tight voice.

I nodded and yanked my fingers out. I shoved them back in, forcing a stuttering moan out of my lips. I continued to fuck myself quickly as I listened to Callahan’s faltering breath. I curled and spread my fingers, but it wasn’t enough. I released a frustrated huff of air as I thrust my hips back to meet my probing fingers.

“It’s not—“ I whimpered in frustration. “It’s not deep enough. Cal,” I whined loudly.

“Fuck,” Callahan hissed. “Do you have a toy?”

“Y-yeah,” I panted desperately as I continued to scissor my fingers roughly.

“Use it.”

I yanked my fingers out once more, eliciting a sharp gasp. I crawled hastily back to the drawer. My limbs felt like jello and sharp stabs of heat were coursing to my fingers and toes.

I reached into the drawer and grabbed the thick blue dildo I kept there. I dropped back onto the bed and reached out blindly. I grabbed my phone and pulled it towards me as I rolled onto my side. I left the phone close to my face and grabbed the bottle of lube. I could hear Callahan breathing rather laboredly on the other end of the line. 

I slicked the dildo with lube and brought it slowly between my legs. I lifted my left knee up, resting my foot on my other ankle. I pressed the tip of the dildo against my puckered hole.

“F-fuck,” I whispered as I eased it in slowly. I scrunched my eyes shut as my body shuddered.

“Are you putting it in?” Callahan breathed. 

“Y-yeah,” I whispered. My hands shook as I forced the curved dildo into my passage. I whimpered loudly as my body clenched around the silicone. 

“Pull it out slowly,” Callahan murmured.

“Mm-hm.” I drew it out slowly.

“Now shove it back in, all the way.”

I thrust the dildo deep inside of me, and cried out loudly as it pressed against my prostate. My back bent as I hunched in on myself.

“Callahan,” I whispered against the phone as I pulled the dildo out and shoved it in again.

“Fuck, Lucian,” Callahan murmured. “Keep fucking yourself with that.”

I panted desperately as I yanked the dildo out and forced it back in. I shoved my hips down with every thrust and whined weakly every time the tip struck my prostate.

“Cal, Cal” I huffed into the phone. “I, I want…”

“What do you want, Lu?”

“Fuck, fuck me, please,” I whispered. “Please, c-come back ’n fuck me, please.” My body shook violently. The tip of my cock slapped against my stomach with every thrust of the dildo, leaving a smear of precome. 

“Fuck, Lucian,” Callahan hissed. “If it’s not just the heat talking, when I get back, I’ll fuck you so hard you won’t be able to walk the next night.”

I cried out loudly as I rammed the dildo deep inside until the flared end was flush with my ass. My body arched and I came hard over my chest. Ribbons of thick cum splattered over my chest. I released a shuddering gasp as my fingers continued to press against the bottom of the dildo.

“Shit, did you come?” 

“Y-yeah,” I panted weakly. 

“Were you even touching yourself?" Callahan whispered.

“N-no, I came from the, from just the—“ I bit my lip.

“Holy shit,” Callahan whispered. “Keep it inside of you. I’m close.”

“Callahan,” I whined weakly into the phone. My hands fell away from the dildo and I cupped the phone to my face. “Callahan, when you, when you fuck me, c-can you please come inside?”

“God, fuck, yes, Lucian,” Callahan grunted. “I’ll—“ But his promise was choked off by a loud groan. He released a shuddering breath.

I hummed contentedly as I imagined Callahan coming in his hand. I bit my lip as my body trembled with the thought.

“Fuck, Lu,” Callahan breathed.

“Can I take it out now?” I whined quietly.

“Yes, you can.”

I dropped one of my hands between my legs and carefully eased the dildo out. A shuddering gasp left my lips as the thick head of the dildo slid passed my rim. 

“Fuck,” I whispered as my knee dropped back onto the bed. I rolled onto my stomach and grimaced as my cum pressed through my shirt against my skin.

“Glad we had phone sex now?” Callahan said with a soft laugh. 

“Fuck off,” I mumbled. 

Callahan chuckled quietly. 

“You should clean yourself up, Lu,” he murmured. “I’ll stay on the line.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Remember last time I just left you?” Callahan said. “You became even more petulant than usual.”

I grumbled under my breath as my eyelids fluttered shut.

“Clean up, Lu,” he said. “I’m sure you made mess.”

“I wanna…can I just go to sleep? I can change the sheets later.” My voice was drifting away as exhaustion seeped into my heavy bones. “I’m sleepy,” I mumbled rather unnecessarily.

“Alright,” Callahan said softly, “just sleep then. I won’t hang up until you’re asleep.”

“M’kay,” I said with a weak nod.

I fell asleep to the sound of Callahan’s breathing and his intermediate questioning of my wakefulness, which I answered with weak hums of assent.


	23. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> cw: medical setting, restraints, needles (read to the * then skip to the ----- if you don't want to read this part), acrophobia (fear of heights), violence, assault, gore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> who's ready for almost 4k words of emotional distress aha aha

“Empty all your personal affects into the bin, please,” the receptionist said as she pushed a small bin towards Callahan beneath the open crescent of the window that separated them. She gave him a small smile, one that was meant to reassure, and not reassure him to part with his personal belongings, but rather what would take place next.

Callahan nodded slowly. He pushed his pants into the pockets of his sweats and drew out his wallet, keys, and phone. A cold breeze from the air conditioning unit in ceiling above him chilled the sweat on the nape of his neck. He had come straight from the physical portion of the examination, which he had naturally passed with flying colors. Hardly anyone taking the guardian exam worried about the physical aspect of the test. Anyone with the intention of becoming a guardian was more than physically capable of doing so; the mental component was the question, and the deterrent for most shifters.

Callahan tossed his wallet and keys into the pin. He was about to follow them up with his phone, when the device started buzzing in his palm. He glanced down at it with a frown. Lucian was calling.

“I have to take this,” Callahan murmured. He turned away from the window and answered the phone. “Hello?”

“Hi.” Lucian’s voice mumbled through the speaker. Sleep clung to his tone as if the vampire had only just roused himself from his slumber. A small smirk played over Callahan’s lips at the thought that Lucian had been so undone by their shared heat that he had slept for the last fourteen hours.

“What’s up, Lu?” Callahan murmured.

“Just wanted to—“ Lucian paused. “Um, good luck Callahan. See you soon.” And he hung up.

Callahan smiled slightly as he turned back to the receptionist. The shifter smiled at him through the glass as Callahan placed his phone in the bin.

“Your vampire?” she asked.

Callahan wasn’t surprised that the conversation had been audible to the shifter given the close quarters of the lobby. 

“Yeah,” Callahan said with a small nod. 

“That was sweet of him to call,” the woman said with a smile. “More shifters should go into the exam with an established relationship with a vampire. It helps the odds, I find; gives you a reason to push through everything.” The woman’s smile wavered slightly as conversation treaded toward the reality of what lay beyond the door to her left for Callahan.

Callahan simply nodded. His ‘established relationship’ with Lucian would be, he did not doubt, the only thing that would get him through what was to come.

“You’re all set to go in, Callahan,” the woman said. “You’re the first one today, so everything’s set up for you.”

Callahan nodded once more. He had asked for the first available slot so that he wouldn’t be faced with shifters exiting from the ordeal. He walked slowly to the door the receptionist gestured to and opened it.

*

He stepped into a large, high-ceiling room. It felt almost hollow. Callahan swallowed nervously as he gazed around the room. Shallow steps led down into the middle of the room where a reclining black chair stood. A pair of shifters stood beside the chair, murmuring to each other over a pair of clipboards. They looked up as Callahan entered.

“Hello, Callahan,” the slight blonde woman said. “I’m Miriam.” She strode up the stairs and held her hand out to Callahan.

Callahan took it with a slow nod. 

“That’s Benjamin,” she said, nodding to the man who remained beside the chair.

Benjamin offered him a small ‘hello’ as greeting. He put his clipboard down on an obscured surface behind the chair.

“Thank you very much for joining us this morning,” Miriam said. She slipped her hand from Callahan’s grip and placed it on his elbow. She guided him gently toward the chair, but Callahan got the feeling if he tried to bolt, she would latch onto him and force him into the chair.

“You are aware of the procedure?” Miriam said when they reached the bottom of the steps. She gestured to the chair, and Callahan took a seat.

“Yes,” he said as he slid over the smooth leather to rest his back on the chair. He placed his hands on the arms of the chair and settled his feet on the footrest.

“How about you explain to me what’s going to happen?” Miriam said with a smile.

“You're—“ Callahan glanced at Benjamin over his shoulder who nodded encouragingly—“going to put the mind scape device on my head.”

Benjamin lifted a helmet-like contraption from the table behind the medical chair. A collection of wires spewed from it like the legs of a spider. Callahan swallowed and looked back at Miriam.

“And what does the mind scape do?” Miriam asked. While Callahan was speaking she had gently belted a restraint over his right wrist. She moved aroundthe chair to Callahan’s left hand started to belt the other restraint.

“It’s a virtual reality system that will manifest my, my fears. It’s programmed to use those fears to test how I respond to certain situations.”

Miriam nodded. She knelt by his feet to restrain his ankles.

“Will you be awake during this process?” Miriam asked.

“No, you’re going to sedate me.”

“Correct,” Miriam said with a nod as she rose to her feet once more. “Are the restraints comfortable?"

Callahan looked down at his wrists and tugged lightly against the thick leather bindings. He shrugged.

“They are what they are,” he murmured.

“Mm.” Miriam gestured for Benjamin, who set down the mind scape device and picked up a needle full of clear liquid. “If you are ready, Benjamin will sedate you and then we will initiate the exam. If at any point things become to much you are to…”

“Blink three times in a row and you’ll disengage the device,” Callahan finished. He sighed and shifted in the chair. “I’m ready.”

“Very good,” Miriam said.

Callahan rested his head back and closed his eyes. He felt Benjamin approach and then soft hands on the inside of his arm. Benjamin located a viable vein and lightly pressed the needle into Callahan. Callahan gritted his teeth as cold liquid spilled into his veins.

He felt his consciousness falling into the back of his mind and then…

Nothing.

* * *

The swirling tendrils of darkness that clouded Callahan’s mind eye parted slowly, revealing a stunning blue sky adorned with puffy white clouds. Sunlight beamed down on him and a soft breeze ruffled his hair.

Callahan blinked slowly and looked around. His stomach churned as he realized just what sort of situation he found himself in. His feet were surrounded by only a few square feet of cobblestone before dropping away some hundred feet to rolling green grass below. Callahan gasped quietly and dropped quickly into a crouch. The tower he crowned seemed to sway in the breeze and he dug his fingers into the stone below him. His heart swelled in his chest; blood roared in his ears.

“Callahan.”

Callahan’s head snapped around at the sound of a voice. He recognized the voice as belonging to the vampire he had been watching at the Hemsworth banquet. Ian stood on a similar tower about twenty feet away from Callahan. He was dressed as he had been at the banquet. Even at this distance, impatience was visibly etched on his face.

“Come here!” the vampire ordered.

Callahan swallowed. The sound of grating stone and metal made him look down. A thin stone buttress was emerging from the side of the tower beneath him. The stone structure arched slowly across the divide and coalesced with the side of Ian’s tower.

“Come here,” Ian snapped agian.

Callahan’s vision swayed as he focused on the only means of access he had to his vampiric charge. His hands pressed against the stone beneath him, clammy and damp. He shuddered.

“Ca—“ Ian’s voice broke off in a cry.

Callahan’s head shot up. His eyes widened as he witnessed Ian’s hands scrabbling frantically at the stone beneath him. A twisted gnarled hand was secured around the vampire’s ankle. Ian was dragged relentlessly to the edge of the tower. He cried out, a haunting mixture of fear and confusion echoing in his voice. Clinging desperately to the edge of the tower, he wailed frantically at Callahan.

Callahan pushed himself carefully to his feet. Fear clamped down on his throat as he shuffled to the edge of the tower. He reached out with a hesitant foot and stepped onto the archway that led to Ian’s tower. 

“Callahan, please!” the vampire screamed.

Callahan gritted his teeth. His fingernails dug painfully into the palms of his hands, leaving vicious crescent shape marks. His entire body trembled. Thick, coiling darkness dampened the edges of his vision. He released a quaking breath as he took another carefully step out into the void.

“Callahan!” Ian’s desperate, pleading wail shot through Callahan like a jolt of electricity.

A long growl left Callahan’s lift, and he shoved forward off the archway. He bounded across the divide. Every time the balls of his feet slammed into the arch below him he felt the entire tower shake. His stomach roiled and he felt close to vomiting.

As soon as his feet were securely planted on Ian’s tower, his knees gave way. They slammed hard against the unforgiving stone. Callahan ignored the pain; his hand shot out and he snatched ahold of Ian’s wrist.

Callahan’s vision fractured. It shattered into a thousand fragments of glass and dissolved, leaving him in the swirling darkness.

The impenetrable black around him shuddered and suddenly snapped out of existence. Callahan stood in a small, dimly lit room. Blank concrete walls surrounded him; a metal door stood in the wall before him. 

A harsh, rumbling growl broke through the deathly silence behind him. Callahan spun around and took a sudden step back.

Chained to the ground before him was a shifter. The shifter was dressed in the Academy-issued sweats and t-shirt. Sinewy muscles strained against the shirt. The shifter’s veins pressed against his skin as if they were trying to rip through the barrier. His body shuddered and quaked. A long, menacing growl bubbled up from his chest.

Callahan took a small step forward. He recognized where he was: one of the containment cells beneath the infirmary. This could only mean one thing: the shifter in front of him was rabid.

He took another step forward. The shifter’s head snapped back. Callahan’s own eyes glared back at him.

Callahan gasped in a horror and jerked back. The him on the floor snarled and yanked against the chains that bound him. Half of his face was concealed by a metal muzzle that did little to muffle the horrible, roiling snarls coming from behind it. 

Callahan released a shuddering breath as he took in his rabid form. His eyes were a stark, glowing green. His ears were pointed and despite the obscuring muzzle, the standing Callahan could tell that the face was elongated, the cheekbones protruding unnaturally. Hooked, sickle-like claws dug into the stone beneath him. Deep fissures blemished the stone where he had scraped the claws mercilessly.

The Callahan before him had loss every last shred of control. He was nothing but a chained animal. He was utterly and completely rabid. 

The Callahan who was witnessing this took a small step backward. He was shaking from head to toe as the horror of this situation sunk into his bones. His blood ran cold. His hand reached out behind him and scrabbled for the doorknob. 

The rabid-Callahan roared and lunged against his chains. The links creaked in protest. He snarled and dug his claws deeper into the stone. His face shifted; muscles roiled beneath his skin and bones morphed slowly.

He was going to shift; he was going to shift completely into his beast form. A weak cry of terror left Callahan’s lips. He lunged forward. His hands slammed against either side of the rabid shifter’s face. His own claws dug viciously into the back of his head. 

The rabid snarled and bucked against his grip. His face continued to morph sickeningly. Callahan squeezed his eyes shot and twisted his arms. A violent crack echoed through the containment cell. Callahan felt the shifter between his hands go limp. 

The ground seemed to shift beneath him and he felt the skull in his hands dissolve into nothing. 

Slowly, he blinked his eyes open. And wished desperately that he hadn’t.

He was crouched in the back corner of a cramped, dirty kitchen. A single, flickering bulb suspended over the table cast a jolting yellow glow over the room. 

Callahan had expected to find this in the recesses of his mind during the guardian examination, but despite how hard he had tried to brace himself for it, nausea still roiled in the pit of his stomach and chill fear spiked through his veins.

His eyes drifted slowly to the kitchen sink. A slender woman with hunched shoulders stood in front of the sink. Her dusty brown hair was coiled in a loose braid down her back. Her thin fingers clasped around a glass, which she was filling with tap water.

She reached up and shut off the faucet. The woman turned around. Her face was devoid of features. The blanket of skin that covered her face was fuzzy and fractured at the edges. A pair of blurring eyes and lips shifted into view every now and again, but the details never came into focus. 

“Here you are, sweetie.” The woman’s voice was soft, gentle. She reached out and placed the glass of water on the kitchen table.

“Thank you, momma.” A small boy with a flop of brown hair reached out for the glass. His face was round, his cheeks chubby with baby fat. His bright green eyes watched the glass intently as he brought it to his mouth. His arm shook slightly and water splashed over his chest.

“Careful,” the woman said with a laugh. She took a seat beside the boy and steadied the glass for him.

The boy sipped slowly on the glass before nodding. The woman drew the glass away from his mouth and placed it on the table.

“You’re almost finished with your green beans,” she said in a proud voice. She picked up the boys fork and speared one of the vegetables in question on the prongs. She held the food out to the boy, who leaned forward and took a small nibble of the end of the green bean. “Yummy?” the woman asked.

“Mm-hm.” The boy nodded as he chewed carefully.

Callahan dropped his head into his hands. His shoulders shuddered. His dug his finger tips into his forehead and willed the memories to leave his mind, but he was _in_ his mind and there was no escape. The woman continued talking in a low, gentle voice. Callahan pressed his hands against his ears to drown out the persistent noise. He was suspended there in the corner of the kitchen for what felt like hours. The peaceful domestic scene continued to play out before him.

A sudden crash ripped through the room. Callahan hunched in on himself; his body shook uncontrollably. The woman cried out in frantic confusion; the boy wailed for his mother. Another voice entered the mix, disjointed, vicious, cruel. It screamed and snarled. It drowned out the woman’s cries; the boy’s sobs.

A harsh slap broke through the chorus of voices. Callahan’s head jerked up despite himself. The woman was hunkered over the kitchen table, cradling her cheek in a thin hand. The boy shuddered and sobbed in his chair.

A tall, muscled man loomed over the woman. His face was twisted in a scowl. His lips were thin, framed by a five o’clock shadow. His brown eyes carried a vicious glare. Thick black hair framed his sallow face. His teeth sat on edge and every breath he released sounded like a snarl.

“You fucking bitch,” he spat down at the woman. He caught hold of the woman by her braid and hurled her away from the table.

The woman slammed into the counter. She cried out in pain and slumped to the floor. The man caught hold of her arm and yanked her to her feet. His hand struck across her face with a harsh crack. The woman cried out weakly. 

“You fucking bitch!” he howled again. “You owe me! You owe me your fucking body!”

“Stop it!” The panicked, desperate wail cut off the man’s tirade. The boy raced across the room and slammed into the man. He pounded small fists against the man’s side.

The man grabbed the boy by his hair and hurled him across the room.

“Shut your mouth, boy,” he hissed. “You disgusting whore son. You can’t do shit.” The man’s dark eyes skittered across the room and locked onto Callahan in the corner of the kitchen. “You weak, pathetic bastard child. Just sit there and watch.”

He slammed the woman into the floor and pinned her down with a hand on her shoulder. His fist rocketed into the woman’s face. The horrible crunch of bone erupted from the woman’s face. The man continued to pound his fist down on her face.

A strangled cry echoed through the room and it took Callahan a moment to realize the sound had emerged from his own mouth. He jerked to his feet and rushed across the room.

A plaintive wail, in a voice all too familiar to him, issued from behind him.

“Callahan,” Lucian pleaded desperately.

Callahan froze. His head twisted slowly and he stared over his shoulder.

The wall of the kitchen fell away and a long, narrow corridor coalesced into view. Callahan’s eyes widened as he gazed down the hall. 

Lucian was hunched a ways down the corridor, his thin arms wrapped around his body as if he were trying to hold himself together. His long blond hair was matted with blood. His body quivered and shook. A long whimper left his lips. Callahan’s mouth went dry as his eyes flickered to the creature looming behind Lucian. 

A disgusting, twisted sanguine arched over Lucian’s back. Its jaw gaped, unveiling rows upon rows of needle-sharp teeth. Its long purple tongue lolled out of its gaping maw. Bloody red eyes gazed down at Lucian.

Lucian cried out in pain and fell forward, his hands scrabbling desperately at the floorboards. A shuddering gasp of horror left Callahan’s lips. The sanguine wasn’t standing behind Lucian, it was growing out of the vampire’s back.

The sanguine reached down and wrapped it bulbous fingers around Lucian’s throat. It pulled him back and leaned over him. Its long tongue lapped at Lucian’s face. The vampire whimpered desperately.

“Please, please, Cal.”

Callahan’s eyes flitted around once more and he stared down at the woman on the floor. Her face was a mass of blood. 

“Please don’t hurt, Callahan,” she whispered at the man who was leering down at him.

“Cal, please, help me, please,” Lucian begged in a weak voice. “I can’t…get it out, please…oh God.”

Callahan clenched his eyes shut. His body shuddered and quaked. Lucian and the woman’s pleads dissolved into each other. The man was laughing gutturally. Whimpered, desperate whispers of ‘mommy’ joined the chorus.

“Are you going to save your mother, or that disgusting vampire bitch?” The man’s vicious words cut through Callahan’s mind. They echoed and swirled in his head, sending long spikes of fear lancing down his spine.

He turned around slowly. For every step he took, he felt like he was ripping his feet out of wet concrete, but he continued to stride forward. Lucian’s soft whimpers beckoned him forward until he was breaking into a run. His eyes sprang open.

Lucian’s hand was reaching out toward him as the sanguine continued to bear down on him. Lucian sobbed and his fingers clasped on empty air.

Callahan reached out. Their fingertips brush.

* * *

Callahan’s entire body shuddered violently. He gasped and bucked upright, only to be held down by constricting restraints. He panted desperately and blinked his eyes furiously. A gentle hand rested on his shoulder. Callahan’s head jerked around.

Miriam smiled down at him warmly. She rubbed her thumb in soothing circles over Callahan’s trembling shoulder.

“You’re okay,” she murmured. “It’s over.” She beamed down at Callahan. “You passed, Callahan. You’re a guardian now.”

* * *

 I stared down at my phone, which was the only thing adorning my desk, despite class having started some fifteen minutes ago. Callahan had told me yesterday morning that he would return to campus tonight, and I needed to know the second he set foot on campus.

My voice buzzed sharply on my desk, causing several of my classmates to glance around in surprise at the sound. I snatched the phone off the desk and stared down at the message. It was from Callahan:

_ Back on campus. At the cottage now. _

I leapt out of my seat and took off out of the classroom. I heard my history teacher mutter a quiet "Again, Lucian?" because this was the same class I had sprinted out of when I'd had my first shared heat with Callahan. I stuffed my phone into my pocket as I ran through the halls. Callahan had made me promise to go to my classes this evening even though I had wanted to wait in my room until he got back. I had by no means promised to  _stay_ in class.

I darted out the door of the academic building and leapt off the steps. I bounded across the the quad, my footsteps the only thing breaking the silence that reigned over the campus. My feet carried me across the campus, between trees, down embankments until I was finally stumbling up the steps of the cottage.

I shoved the door open without even bothering to knock politely and tripped into the foyer.

His soft, familiar scent bombarded my senses. He hadn't showered recently; I could tell because I could practically taste his scent on my tongue. 

"Lucian," I distantly heard Vanessa say in surprise, but all of my focus was on Callahan.

He stood on the third step of the stairwell that led up to the second floor. His hand rested lightly on the railing. His face was pale, the circles under his eyes dark. He looked exhausted, but when his eyes found, his face became awash with an expression almost like relief.

"Lu," he murmured in a rough voice.

I ran across the foyer and jumped into the air. My arms coiled around his neck as I pressed against his chest. His hands found my hips. I buried my face into the crook of his neck and inhaled deeply. My body shuddered as his familiar scent flooded my senses. I released a long moan into the side of his neck.

"Lucian," he whispered as he slipped his hands over my lower back.  Callahan tucked his face against the back of my head and breathed in deeply.

"Welcome back."


	24. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for such a late chapter y'all!! i've been super busy with work and cosplays. but here we go; chapter three of arc two. be sure to check out my instagram if you're interested in preordering the extended edition. hopefully that will be finished soon sorry about the wait! https://www.instagram.com/p/BZEkVUOAp-F/?taken-by=kitsvnebi

“Ooh, looks like some privacy is in order,” Sam said in a teasing voice.

Callahan rolled his eyes at the other shifter. Lucian wrapped his legs securely around Callahan’s waist before twisting around and giving Sam a pouty scowl. She laughed as she rested her elbow on Vanessa’s shoulder.

“Good to see you made it back, Cal,” she said, her gaze shifting from Lucian to Callahan. 

“Thanks Sam,” Callahan said. He shifted his hands so they were cupping Lucian’s thighs. “If you’ll excuse us,” he added to a delighted guffaw from Sam.

Lucian tucked his chin on Callahan’s shoulder. Callahan turned and headed up the steps. Lucian’s body was warm and comforting twined around Callahan’s. Callahan sighed contentedly. The palpable anxiety that had twisted his stomach since the examination lessened as Lucian’s familiar scent washed over him.

Callahan made no move to set Lucian down even when they reached the second floor. Lucian didn’t protest to the manhandling. Instead, he rested his forehead against Callahan’s neck. Callahan could feel Lucian’s hot breath against his neck.

When he reached his bedroom door, Callahan pulled his hand away from Lucian’s thigh and pushed the door open. He stepped inside, kicking the door shut lightly behind him. Crossing the room, he set Lucian down on the bed and sat down beside him with a small sigh. Lucian tucked his legs beneath him and leaned against Callahan’s shoulder. Callahan had learned during the time Lucian had spent in his room after the church incident that Lucian was prone to physical contact, but the second it was reciprocated Lucian would lurch back as if acknowledgment of his affection scalded him. Because of this, Callahan had taken to simply letting Lucian drape himself how he pleased over Callahan without making a move to match the act. 

“You should be in class,” Callahan teased.

“What did you think I would do when you texted me?” Lucian shot back as he glowered up at Callahan. His cheeks flushed slightly when he saw Callahan’s teasing smile.

Callahan laughed quietly. He would have teased Lucian further—asking if the vampire had missed him—but he didn’t want to push Lucian to confess to any feelings he didn’t want to deal with quite yet. On top of that the examination had left a heaviness on his chest that weighed on his tongue and led to a long silence between the pair. Callahan knew he should say something to continue to the friendly banter, and feign that he was fine, but he couldn’t bring himself to open his mouth.

Lucian swallowed and dropped his gaze to his hands. He shifted slightly, but he didn’t pull away, for which Callahan was grateful. 

“If you,” Lucian said. He broke off and wrinkled his nose. After a small sigh, he tried again. “If you need to talk, I’m, like—you can talk to me.”

“Thanks,” Callahan said quietly. It meant a great deal to him that Lucian was willing to lend an ear, and yet he still found himself hesitant to share what exactly had happened during the examination. “I’ve already talked to Vanessa about it,” he continued with a shrug. 

“Oh.” Lucian’s voice was low, almost inaudible. This time he did shift away from Callahan, who glanced over at him. Lucian’s chin was tucked almost to his chest and his shoulders were hunched slightly. “That, that’s good,” he murmured. “Do you need anything? I could, like—“ Lucian looked up at him and his face broke with the palpable confusion he was enduring. He had absolutely no idea what he could do for Callahan.

“Wanna play some video games?” Callahan offered. 

“Yeah,” Lucian said with a relieved smile. “Yeah, sure, but not Super Smash Bros. I hate that game.”

“You only hate it because you suck at it,” Callahan teased.

Lucian griped under his breath as Callahan went about setting up a different game. Callahan joked that Lucian would be equally bad at this one and the vampire flipped him off from where he had draped himself.

Callahan laughed and tossed him one of the controllers. He sat down on the foot of the bed. Lucian scooted closer to him. He rolled onto his side so he was facing the monitor and rested his head on Callahan’s thigh.

Callahan risked it and stroked Lucian’s hair briefly before taking up his controller in both hands. Lucian stiffened under the touch, but he didn’t relinquish his place on Callahan’s thigh.

* * *

 I ended up falling asleep with my head in Callahan’s lap. He had chosen a multi-player campaign game for us to play, and apparently if I wasn’t verbally abusing the game over my lack of proficiency I was bored into a stupor by it. My impromptu nap also most likely had something to do with the fact that I hadn’t slept well while Callahan had been away. With his comforting scent washing over me, my body decided to fall into a long-awaited slumber.

When I awoke, I found myself tangled together with Callahan in the center of his bed. My head lay on his chest and I could feel his heart throbbing steadily. I sat up slowly, pulling my legs carefully away from where they’d been twined around his. I stared down at Callahan’s sleeping face. The hard lines of stress had softened in slumber, and the tension throughout his body had drained. He had looked…lost with touch of ‘frightened’ when I had first laid eyes on him downstairs. I knew all too well the emotional toll the guardian exam could take on shifters, having seen many of my father’s shifters following their examinations, but seeing Callahan like that had felt completely different. For as long as I’d known him, he’d been nothing but strong and unshakable. Even going up against that hellishly old sang in the church, he’d been undaunted. I wished I could take the fear and emptiness he experienced now from him; I couldn’t with something as simple as an embrace, but I had hoped talking might help. Apparently he didn’t need to talk to me; he had Vanessa for that.

I gnawed on my lip as I pulled my gaze away from Callahan. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stared down at my feet. It made sense to an extent that Callahan would confide in Vanessa; they were best friends after all. But I was his—something—the one he liked, and I liked him back, so that made us something and he should come to me when he wasn’t doing well.

Despite whatever we had between us, it would seem Vanessa would remain his confidant. And what did we have between each other? The mark. That was what. What if the mark meant how we felt for one another wasn’t real? I mean, maybe it was but there really wasn’t anyway to know with the mark in place.

I gritted my teeth and pushed off the bed. I left Callahan’s room and glanced up and down the hallway. There was no way to tell whose room was whose; it was close to sunrise so I assumed most shifters would be finding their way their rooms about now, so I wasn’t entirely certain how to locate her.

I sighed quietly and headed downstairs. The soft hum of conversation drew me to the living room. I moved into the open doorframe and found Vanessa and Sam seated on the couch together. They looked up at the sound of my approach and Sam cast me her usual smirk.

“Sup, Lulu,” she said.

“Only Luke can call me that,” I said with a small scowl.

“Where’s Callahan?” Vanessa asked.

“In his room,” I said. My fingers twined together nervously. “Could I, uh—“ I glanced between Vanessa and Sam.

“Oh, do you want to talk to Ness?” Sam said as she made to rise.

“Uh, no actually, sorry, can I talk to you?” I asked.

“Oh, sure,” Sam said as she settled back on the couch.

Vanessa nodded and rose. 

“I’m off to bed then,” she said. As she moved out of the room, she paused beside me. “Thanks for coming to see him.” She gave me a slight smile before departing.

“So, what's up, Lu?” Sam asked as I sat on the edge of the couch beside her.

“Uh, well, it’s—“ My fingers twisted together nervously and I gritted my teeth. This was going to be difficult conversation to say the least.

“Wanna hold my lizard?” Sam said suddenly.

“What?”

Sam hopped to her feet and crossed the room to Gilbert’s tank. I watched her carefully open the top of the tank and lift Gilbert out. The lizard seemed quite content to be held in her strong grip. She moved back to the couch and held the lizard out to me. I detangled my fingers and hesitantly reached out to take Gilbert from her. The lizard’s scales were rough against my soft palms. He didn’t squirm at all. I carefully drew my hands to my lap and rested Gilbert on my knee. He sat happily and allowed me to run my fingers slowly along his back. This gave me something to do with my hands that didn’t compound upon my anxiety. I gave Sam an appreciative smile as she sat down again.

“So, what’s going on?” she said, returning my smile with a soft one of her own. 

“You’ll need some context first,” I said with a bitter laugh. 

“That’ll help,” she said with a laugh.

“It’s about Callahan and I,” I began. I took a deep breath and steeled myself. “We have like a thing going on, you know?”

“I’ve noticed,” she said, nodding sagely. 

“I’m—he—“I gritted my teeth. “He marked me.”

Sam gaped at me before trying to stutter out a whole slew of confused syllables. Her eyes were wide as she stared at me with blatant confusion and something bordering on horror.

“He fucking what?” she finally managed to gag out.

I slid my hands through my locks and lifted my short hair away from my nape. I twisted away from her so she could get a clear view of my neck, and the puckered mark that marred it.

“Jesus fuck,” she whispered.

“Yeah, so that’s a thing.” I dropped my hair to cover my neck again and turned back to her. 

“Why the fuck did he mark you?” she hissed. Her eyes flashed and I pulled back by the startling realization that she was _angry_. Her eyes glowed and her lips twitched slightly. Soft waves of familiar pheromones rolled off of her and I suddenly realized that Sam, like Callahan, was an alpha.

“It was part of a deal,” I said quickly. The back of my neck tingled as the presence of an alpha washed over me. “I let him mark me so that he’d agree to be my guardian.”

Sam’s teeth gritted together audibly. She lowered her gaze from me and released a long sigh as she tried to reign in her anger. 

“As long as you agreed to it, it’s fine,” she said in a low voice.

“I did,” I said, “but there’s—I’m just not sure—“ I huffed out a sharp breath— “Do you know of anyway to break a mark?” 

“Break?”

“Like get rid of it?”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Sam said, waving her hands in the air. “I thought this was part of a deal, that you agreed to it, so why break it? Isn’t that the same as breaking the deal?”

“It’s important for both of us,” I shot back. I bristled slightly at Sam’s suggestion that I would break my word. “We have to know for absolute certainty that how we feel isn’t just the mark. It has to be genuine.” My grip tightened around Gilbert who hissed in indignation. I quickly released the lizard and he jumped off my lap and raced across the room to hide under the table that held his tank. “S-sorry,” I whispered.

“It’s fine. He’s tough,” Sam said with a shake of her. “How you feel,” she continued with a slow nod. “How _do_ you feel?”

I flushed and averted my gaze.

“We’ve both said we like the other,” I admitted quietly, “but if that’s not real, if that’s just the mark.” My face twisted and I quickly jerked my head away so Sam couldn’t see my expression.

“I’ve never heard of a way to get rid of a mark completely,” Sam said with a resigned sigh. “I have heard of omegas—“ A long growl spilling of my lips made her quickly amend her statement— “ _marks_ being bitten by another alpha, a stronger one, which overrides the first mark. But, Lu, that’s a huge deal, getting bit by a second alpha. Callahan would be _livid_.”

“But I’d be doing it for both our sakes,” I insisted. “What if all of this is just fake!”

“Lucian, Callahan will kill any alpha that so much as touches you, let alone bites you,” Sam snapped, “and he wouldn’t be too happy with you either.”

“But that’s just the mark,” I shot back, “and it’s bullshit. All these emotions are just fake.”

“Him asserting dominance over you is the mark’s influence on his instincts,” Sam said in level voice, “but that doesn’t mean how he feels for you is a result of the mark. When did he tell you he likes you?”

“After the mark, but he said he felt something back at Hemsworth and then even after the bond wore off.”

“Bond? what b—?”

“We had a blood bond, but that’s not important right now.” I waved away her curiosity at another aspect of my relationship with Callahan as I frowned down at my hands.

“If you say so,” Sam muttered under her breath. 

“But how he feels—that doesn’t matter.”

“Oh, so this isn’t for _both_ your sakes.” Sam snorted derisively.

“No, that’s not—fuck.” I dropped my head into my palms. “It’s me,” I said. “It’s how I feel that’s a problem. I’ve never felt like this before. It doesn’t—it’s weird.” I shook my head.

“Just because you’ve never liked someone before doesn’t mean it’s not real,” Sam said. “You should talk to Callahan about this. He should know that you’re worried and confused about your emotions. And don’t do anything stupid like finding another alpha to bite you.”

I groaned loudly and flopped back against the couch. I leaned my head back and glowered at the ceiling. Talking to Callahan about _feelings_ held absolutely no appeal to me.

“I can try to look into another way to end a mark if you think that’ll help,” Sam said. “Getting another alpha involved would really fuck things up.”

“Okay, thanks,” I said with a nod. 

“No problem, Lu.” She reached out to pat my shoulder and suddenly froze.

I glanced down at her extended hand.

“Seriously?” I said. 

“I wasn’t kidding when I said Callahan would be less than peachy if he found out another alpha touched his mark,” Sam said as she withdrew her hand.

“It’s not like it means anything. Besides we’re both gay.”

“It would mean something to Callahan.”

“That’s bullshit,” I muttered.

“Just looking out for number one,” she said, flashing me a quick wink.

I rolled my eyes.

“I should get back to my dorm.”

“Nope,” Sam said with a shake of her. “Sun’s coming up; you’ll have to spend the day here.”

“What about the tunnels?”

“We’re not connected to the tunnel system,” Sam explained. “We’re also patrolling the tunnels now, and I doubt you’d want to be caught on a walk of shame back from the shifter cottage.” She shot me a cheeky grin.

“It’s not—whatever.” I rolled my eyes.

“Night, Lu,” she said as she pushed off the couch and crossed the room to Gilbert’s tank. She ducked down beside the table.

I opened my mouth to offer assistance, but Sam was already rising with Gilbert in her hands.

“Night, Sam,” I said instead. “And thanks.”

I left the living room and headed back upstairs to Callahan’s room. He was still asleep. I flicked off the overhead light and crossed the room to the window. After drawing the curtains, I went to the bed and kicked off my shoes. I wormed the covers out from under Callahan and pulled them over the both of us.

I curled up against Callahan’s side and hooked my leg over his. As I drifted off to sleep I found myself hoping against hope that how I felt for Callahan wasn’t a result of the mark; that it was real and genuine; that I truly did like him.


	25. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh sorry it's taking me so long to write these chapters lately. i'm swamped with building cosplays and work.  
> also with regards to the pre orders of blood bound: first, huge apology it's taken me so long to finish the extended edition but second i should be able to send it out on monday!!! there's just one more illustration to do and i want to add some more extra content to it. unfortunately there won't be a callu au. i tried writing one, but it's so bizarre writing original characters out of canon. if anyone else wants to write an au for them i'm sure you'll find it much easier lol  
> if you're interested in pre ordering the extended edition you can find the information for it here! https://www.instagram.com/p/BZEkVUOAp-F/?taken-by=kitsvnebi

My body slammed into the floor with a resounding thud. I grunted in annoyance and sagged against the cushioning mat beneath me.

“Are you even trying?” Callahan snapped at me from where he loomed above me. 

“No,” I said with a derisive chuckle. I sat up on my elbows and glowered up at him. “This is stupid and boring.”

“You agreed to train with me,” Callahan shot down at me. He folded his arms and glared at me.

I had agreed to this annoying affair, much to my begrudgement now. This evening I had woken up to find myself once again tangled up with Callahan. I tried to push aside the slight nervousness I felt at the thought that this was becoming normal for me. We’d had breakfast together, along with Lionel and Vanessa. The other two shifters didn’t find it at all strange that a vampire was in attendance at their morning meal. After breakfast, they had left with Callahan to go on a patrol. Callahan had offered to walk me back to my dorm, but I had opted to stay and play video games. I didn’t have a gaming platform in my dorm—nor had I ever had one due to my father’s abhorrence of gaming. 

Callahan and the others had returned after midnight. Callahan had been apologetic for leaving me on my own for so long—he seemed to think he needed to host me or something—but the fact that I barely noticed his return due to how absorbed I was in the game reassured him that I had been fine on my own.

After my character had died for the about the fifth time, I had rage quit the game and flung myself off the bed into a dramatic heap on the floor. Callahan had somehow managed to convince me that going to the gym with him for a few rounds in the ring was a perfectly reasonable plan. 

I was profoundly regretting my agreement to this plan now since I was bored beyond belief and a touch bruised from the number of times Callahan had thrown me down. 

“I can’t gauge shit about your combat abilities if you refuse to actually spar with me,” Callahan continued.

“I literally eviscerated a sanguine. We can safely say my combat abilities are just fine.” Since the pair of us were alone in the gym, I was perfectly fine with announcing this fact. 

“When you were out of control, yes,” Callahan said. “I want to see what you’re capable of when you’re in your right mind.”

My eyes dropped to the floor and I sucked on my bottom lip. I hated that Callahan had pieced together that I had been out of my mind when I had ripped that sang apart. He had yet to label my state of mind as blood frenzy, which it most certainly had been, and I hoped he never would realize that that was the case.

“This is stupid,” I griped. “I’m not going to fight you for real, so what’s the point?”

“And why not?” Callahan asked. “Don’t think you can take me for real?”

“You’re not going to goad me into a fight,” I said with an annoyed sigh. I shoved myself to my feet and glowered up at him. 

“Lu, you’re wasting both your time and mine by being a petulant brat. Just come at me like you did the first time we met. You weren’t holding back then.”

I dropped my gaze to the floor and gritted my teeth. I had never been one for sparring, even when I had been in training as a kid. My father had constantly grilled into me the possibility that I could lose control during a fight. I was too emotional for my own good and when my adrenaline got going there was no telling what could happen. I knew that Callahan could hold his own against me, considering the first time we’d met the fact that I had hit him with almost all my strength directly in the chest and he hadn’t budged more than a few inches. Sure, he was basically an iron wall against my strength, but if we went at it seriously, I might get to amped up to handle myself. 

“Are you worried that you’re going to lose control?”

My eyes widened. My head snapped back and I gazed up at Callahan in horror. This wasn't the first time since the mark had been put into place that I had felt that Callahan was now capable of reading my mind. I tightened my jaw to the point of hearing my teeth grate together. I absolutely abhorred Callahan’s new-found perceptive abilities when it came to my feelings.

“You can talk to me about this sort of thing, you know,” Callahan said.

A bitter laugh stumbled off my lips. 

“That’s real fucking rich coming from you,” I said, tossing my head back to glare up at him. “You’re the one who refuses to talk to me about the examination. You only talked to Vanessa about it.”

“Lu,” Callahan snapped, “these are two very different situations. You don’t have a lot of people to talk to about your problems like I do.”

“Are you saying I don’t have friends?” I snarled.

“That’s not what I meant, Lu,” Callahan said with a sharp sigh.

“I _have_ friends.” I had maybe three. “I have plenty of fucking friends.” Again, maybe three. “And just because I don’t talk to _you_ about my problems doesn’t mean I don’t _talk_ about them.” I never talked about my problems. Even Myrna didn’t know that I had issues with going into a bloody frenzy. “You’re so fucking entitled thinking you’re the only one I can talk to.”

“I’m entitled?” Callahan snapped. “You seem to think that you’re the only one I should talk to about the examination.”

“That’s not me being entitled,” I shouted up at him. “You’re _my_ guardian. What happened during the examination effects _us_.”

“And your lack of self control has absolutely no effect on ‘us’?” Callahan said, brandishing a pair of air quotes at me like daggers. “If you lose control like you did in the church, who do you think has to clean up after you? _I do_. You’re my fucking responsibility.”

“The church was a very unique situation,” I yelled. “Why can’t you just trust me that I have my shit under control?”  
“How can I trust you when you’re too scared to even spar with me?” Callahan growled, his eyes flashing a luminous green.

A feral snarl of my own bubbled up in my chest. I spun on the ball of my foot and slammed a vicious roundhouse kick into the center of Callahan’s chest. He grunted and stumbled back a pace. Without wasting a second, I darted forward and pummeled his chest again with a sharp upper cut.

Callahan snarled loudly. His hand shut down and coiled around my wrist. He ripped me off my feet with hilarious ease and hurled me across the room. I flew through the air and slammed onto the mat. I flipped over in the air, my momentum continuing to propel me across the room, and buried my fingers into the mat. My nails tore deep gouges into the mat. I braced my toes against the floor and finally dragged myself to a halt. 

My head snapped back and I found Callahan closing the gap between us at a sprint. I shot to the side and darted behind him. I kicked off the floor and brought my fist down. Callahan spun and caught my fist in the palm of his hand. I grabbed his wrist and yanked myself forward. My feet slammed into his chest with the force of small freight train. He fell backwards and landed with a thud on the mat. 

I ripped my hand free of his grip and slammed my fist down, my knuckles glancing sharply off his cheekbone. He grunted. His hands shot out and clamped around my wrists, which he pinned against my hips. My legs tightened around his chest. I could feel his heart ricocheting in his chest and the heat radiating from his body. I snarled. My jaws parted. My fangs pressed against my gums. I reared back before descending on Callahan. My fangs brushed his jugular. I could feel his pulse throbbing between my lips. Callahan’s body shivered with a gasp. I froze. I could taste Callahan’s sweat on my tongue; I could smell his enticing, delectable scent. 

Callahan yanked back hard on my arms. I cried out in my pain as I felt my arms practically ripped from their sockets. Callahan twisted his hips sharply and flipped us over. He pinned me down on the mat, releasing my wrists and slamming his hands down on my shoulders. I gasped. His knees were pinning my wrists painfully to the floor. I grimaced and twisted beneath him. My jaws snapped around empty air. Callahan’s hands slipped over my neck and he pinned my jaw shut.

“Lucian,” he breathed as he leaned over me. His forehead brushed mine and he smiled down at me. “Calm down, baby.”

I swallowed painfully against his hands and squirmed beneath him. Callahan pressed a soft kiss to the tip of my nose. I grimaced.

“Cut it out,” I snapped. “I’m mad at you.”

He laughed and kissed my nose again.

“You did really well, baby,” he said. “You almost had me.”

“This isn’t funny,” I snapped. “I’m seriously angry.”

“I know; I’m sorry.” Callahan sat back and relinquished his hold on my neck.

I sighed as my neck was liberated from the pressure of his weight. Callahan reached out and carefully tucked a lock of my hair behind my ear. I flushed and twisted my face away from his hand.

“Is it,” I murmured quietly, “really that bad that I’m scared to spar with you? I don’t…I don’t want to hurt you. Why’s that a bad thing?”

“I’m sorry, Lu,” Callahan said in a low voice. “I shouldn’t have pressured you. I know you have really good self-control, and I know the church was a unique situation. Today wasn't meant to test that self-control. I honestly just wanted to see you in a fight.”

“Well, congrats, you fucking saw me,” I muttered.

“I did and you were amazing.” Callahan rubbed my jawline gently with his thumb. “I’m also sorry I insinuated you don’t have friends,” Callahan continued. “I just wanted to put myself out there as someone you can talk to.”

“It’s not fair that I’m expected to talk to you about my problems when you won’t talk to me about yours.”

“I don’t expect that from you, Lu,” Callahan said. “I just want you to know that you have the option, just like I know I have you as an option to talk to.”

“Then, why don’t you talk to me?” I asked. I stared up at him, chewing on the inside of my cheek. My lip was starting to quiver and my nose twitched intermittently.

“I’m sorry, Lu,” Callahan murmured. He ran his thumb gently over my bottom lip. “I want to; I just don’t feel ready yet. Give me some time, okay?” His hand rested against my cheek.

I leaned against his palm and sighed quietly. 

“Okay.” I grimaced slightly. “Sorry I freaked out.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Callahan said as he got to his feet. He reached out a hand for me. “How are your arms?”  
“Sore,” I grumbled. I took his hand and let him help me up. I rolled my shoulders to demonstrate mobility. “But fine. I, I wasn’t going to bite you.”

“I felt you stop, but I didn’t really want to risk it.” Callahan smiled sheepishly at me. He reached out and ruffled my hair. “Let’s call it for now. I don’t think either of us is in the mood to go another round.”

“I never was in the mood,” I said. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Callan said, rolling his eyes, “I gathered as much. Here, I’ll walk you back to your dorm.”

“Wh—ah, yeah, okay.” 

Callahan frowned slightly, sensing my slight bout of confusion, but I quickly walked past him, heading for the door. I heard Callahan’s footsteps as he hurried to catch up with me, but ignored him in favor of watching the floor pass beneath my feet. 

For whatever entirely bizarre reason, I had been expecting to return to the shifter cottage with him. I hated that I was getting used to spending the day with him; that waking up with him felt normal. That created a level of intimacy I didn’t want to delve into with Callahan, mark or no mark.


	26. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> cw: past mention of sexual assault

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is hella weak apologies for that. the main plotline happens over the summer so i gotta force a time skip to happen so it's getting to be a little rough for a bit.  
> what i have planned for the summer is super crazy like all sorts of shit goes down my dudes so stay tuned  
> also, i changed lucian's anatomy. he's intersex now. i rewrote all necessary aspects in the blood bound extended edition so if you're getting that you'll want to reread hook up scenes to get a feel for that. (bbee will be out soon i hope god i'm so sorry)  
> otherwise it's not hugely earth shattering that he's intersex and it's only barely implied in this chapter but i wanted to give a heads up for later chapters (ie when he and cal bone)

Scrubbing my towel aggressively against my wet hair was not having the intended effect of ridding myself of my annoyance. The emotion was a compounded result of Callahan making me sleep in my dorm tonight and my negative reaction to that.

It was pathetic beyond belief that I craved Callahan’s company. This was without a doubt a result of the mark. I couldn’t possibly be capable of conjuring up such an emotion of my own volition; I never had in the past. Even with Eden, I hadn’t been desperate for his return whenever he left my father’s home with Raife. Myrna too, while I missed her quite a bit since she had returned to Slovakia, didn’t conjure the same void in my chest.

A soft knock on my door roused me blessedly from these thoughts. I draped my towel over my shoulders and tightened my hand on the one around my waist. I went to the door and pulled it open. Much to my palpable surprise, Finny stood in the doorway. He flushed a vibrant red when his eyes fell on my bare chest and he quickly turned his head away.

“Hi,” Finny said hesitantly, his gaze rooted on the wall.

“What, what are you doing here?” It had been so long since Finny had set foot on the top floor of the dorm I had come to think that he never would again.

“I, um.” Finny rubbed the back of his neck. “I wanted to a-apologize…for what I did.”

“Seriously?” I stared at him, stunned. I had by no means been expecting this from Finny. I had thought breaking his face had burned any bridges between us and he wouldn’t dare face me again. 

“Yeah,” Finny said. “That night—“ he cringed at the memory—“I don’t know what happened really. I don't know why…I wasn’t even that drunk, but suddenly it just felt like I wasn’t in control of myself…like I was watching myself do… _that_ to you. I-I know that’s not an excuse for what happened, but I just—I’m sorry—I wanted to explain myself.”

My eyes skittered over Finny as slow horror crawled up my spine. My breathing was shallow and my fingers trembled slightly. 

“The next morning too…I don’t know why I talked shit about you,” Finny continued. His voice threatened to break on every word and his face too looked close to fracturing into despair. “It was like there was this pressure in the back of my head convincing me to do that—it’s so pathetic.” Finny’s voice finally did break and a tear rolled down his cheek.

“It’s fine,” I said, a touch harshly. “Don’t worry about it. You were probably just really drunk. You should be more careful the next time you drink.”

“But—it’s fine?” Finny’s eyes finally lifted mine and he stared at me confusion. “It can’t…can it really be fine?”

“Don’t worry about it,” I repeated. “Sorry I fucked up your face. Feel free to live up here again if you want.” I stepped back quickly and promptly slammed the door in Finny’s face.

“Th-thank you, Lucian—I’m sorry!” Finny called through the door.

My knees gave out and I collapsed in a crouch in front of the closed door. I huddled in on myself. My fingers scraped through my hair. My breathing was frantic, desperate.

I knew what Finny had described wasn’t a result of the alcohol. He had most certainly been describing the experience of having a necromancer control him. And that meant—that meant Alistair had done those things to me; he had touched me _there_.

My entire body convulsed in horror. It had been bad enough learning that Alistair was the necromancer after I had hooked up with him _willingly_. Now to think that he had been the one to bite me and penetrate me. 

Bile rose in the back of my throat. I jerked to feet and stumbled to my bed. I snatched up my phone, my fingers flew over the screen, and I—froze. I stared down at the device in my hand. Callahan’s name shone up at me.

I hurled the phone across the room with vicious force. It pierced the wall and embedded in the fractured plaster. Shards of glass tumbled out of the shattered screen.

_How embarrassing_ , I scoffed to myself. Had I really become so dependent on Callahan that I needed to call him after every hiccup in my life? I had gotten through worse on my own; I didn’t need to go crawling to a shifter for help.

Angrily, I finished toweling myself off and yanked on a pair of sweatpants. I hurled myself into bed and crammed my face into my pillow. Despite my best efforts to strong arm myself into slumber, I didn’t drift off for a solid hour, a period of time which was spent irritably thinking about my own cripplingly short comings.

 

Luckily for me and my keen desire to _not_ thinking about my growing attachment to Callahan, final exams were just around the corner. If I were a responsible student, all of grades wouldn’t hinge desperately on my final exam grades, and I would be able to relax over the course of the next three weeks. Unfortunately for me, I was notorious for never doing work, failing midterms, and hardly going to class. My only hope for passing into my fifth year—and therefore not being murdered by my father for my ineptitude—was to hide myself away in the basement of the library for excruciating long hours of studying utterly tedious and stupid things.

Apparently I wasn’t hidden all that well. Four days into the first week of my self-inflicted academic exile, Sam managed to discover me tucked away in the back of the basement stacks. 

“Hey,” she said, her voice pitched to a whisper due to the presence of other desperate students. She came to a halt by the cubicle I was sequestered in and leaned against the side. 

“Hey.” I frowned up at her as I pulled my headphones down around my neck. “What do you want?”

“Nice to see you too,” she said with a laugh.

I rolled my eyes a touch sheepishly.

“Is this where you’ve been the last few days?” she asked. 

“Yeah,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “It’s serious crunch time right now.” I gestured to the slew of books and paper piled up in front of me.

“Cal said you were probably studying your ass off somewhere,” she said. “He texted you to invite you to some study breaks at the cottage, but never heard back from you.”

“Uh, yeah, I broke my phone.”

“You? Break something? Shocking.”

I flipped her off; Sam only laughed. 

“So, I looked a bit more into that situation of yours.” She tapped the side of neck and wiggled her eyebrows at me conspiratorially. 

“Oh, thanks,” I said. “Find anything else out?”

“Yeah, I found something. There’s no way of erasing a mark from existence entirely, but if Callahan marks someone else, that will lessen the connection between the two of you. That should help alleviate your worry that your feelings only have to do with the mark. Only thing is you two would be sharing each other with someone else, and neither of you are particularly good at that.”

“I already told Callahan he could mark someone else if he wanted,” I muttered under my breath, dropping my gaze from Sam’s.

“Mm? And was that before or after you two confessed to liking each other?”

“Before,” I admitted in a low voice. 

“I’m sorry, Lu,” Sam said, “but I think you’re stuck with this bond. The only way to break the connection with Callahan would be to get marked by another alpha and that just isn’t an option.”

My nose wrinkled slightly and stared thoughtfully down at the textbook propped in front of me.

“ _Seriously_ ,” Sam said, grabbing me by my shoulder and yanking me around to face her, “not an option, Lu. First, you’d have to find an alpha more powerful than Callahan. Second, you’d have to deal with the fact that he’d kill try to kill the alpha and maybe even you. You two made your bed—“ Sam flashed me a wicked grin—“now you gotta fuck in it.”

“Not happening,” I growled. I yanked free of her grip. 

“You two aren’t gonna fuck?” Sam said with a laugh. “Yeah right.”

“I’m not sleeping with someone I only fake like.” I glared down at my textbook as if it was the one responsible for this mess.

“Lu, I love you, but you’re an idiot sometimes.”

I twisted around sharply and stared at her with wide eyes. Sam plowed on as if nothing were amiss.

“Yes, marks manufacture a connection between the alpha and the omega, but it only effects the two instinctually, like a blood bond would. It doesn’t create brand new feelings out of thin air. I get that you’re scared to have these sort of feelings for someone, but it’ll make things a whole lot easier if you just accept them and stop trying to write them off as fake.”

I blinked up at her in confusion.

“Did that make any sense?” she asked with an amused sigh.

“You, you love me?”

“Geez, you’re hopeless,” Sam said ruefully. She reached out and tousled my hair. “It’s an expression. The most I feel for you is tolerance; don’t get your panties in a twist.”

I allowed a small smile as I pulled away from her hair-mussing hand. 

“Thanks, Sam, for the, like, pep talk.”

“Any time, Lu-lu.”

“Only Luke can—“

“I know, I know,” Sam laughed. “Speaking of Luke, he comes by the cottage for the study breaks; you should join some time.”

“Maybe,” I mumbled. “We’ll see.” 

Sam bid me goodbye and loped away. I pulled my headphones up again and tucked myself over my textbooks. I actually quite liked the idea of taking a break at the shifters’ cottage. I had grown rather attached to the small abode, and not just because Callahan lived there. It was cozy, welcoming, and put me at ease. I wouldn’t mind spending more time. The shifters too were all relatively nice to me, despite my past fuck ups. The only thing I needed to be concerned of was how it would reflect on my reputation to be spending so much time with shifters. Then again, my relationship with Callahan, while it wasn’t public just yet, wouldn’t do wonders for my relationship.

I dropped my head onto my notebook with a loud sigh. I wasn’t overly thrilled with the notion of going public with Callahan, but I said fuck it to the risk when Ihad basically asked Callahan out. Maybe it was time to say fuck it about friendships as well. I had always felt more comfortable around shifters than vampires. One of the reasons I didn’t have many friends probably had to do with the fact that I hadn’t let myself get close to shifters. Maybe it was time to change that fact. It was certainly time to get a new phone. I had the feeling that Sam wouldn't have brought up Callahan trying to get in touch with me if he weren’t incredibly put off that he couldn’t.


	27. Chapter Six

As it turned out, Lucian was excruciatingly meticulous about his appearance when his father was going to see him. He had seemed so effortlessly gorgeous at the banquet that Callahan had imagined he had simply tossed on some stray articles of clothing and headed out. This was far from the case, Callahan was learning as he watched Lucian inspect himself in the hotel room’s floor-length mirror. The outfit Lucian had just donned, which was his eighth, looked not only very similar to the last seven, but also stunning on him.

Lucian, it would seem, was not quite as satisfied with the look as Callahan was. Then again, Lucian didn’t have Callahan’s same view of his ass. Callahan had learned from his first few attempts to compliment the vampire that he was better off keeping his mouth shut and just appreciating the soft curve of Lucian’s ass in his tight dress pants. Lucian had snipped sharply at Callahan each time he’d tried to compliment him, informing Callahan in an annoyed manner of the faults in the outfits Callahan hadn’t been able to pick out.

Lucian released a small, upset sigh as he tugged at the slimming suit jacket. His forehead was crumpled with distress as he appraised his appearance.

Callahan checked his watch and took a deep breath. They only had ten minutes to meet Lucian’s father in the lobby of the hotel for dinner. Regardless of Lucian’s thoughts on the outfit, this one would have to do.

“Baby,” Callahan said as he rose from the bed and crossed the room to stand behind Lucian. “We have to go, or we’re going to be late.” He circled his arms around Lucian’s shoulders and pulled him against his chest. “You look beautiful,” he murmured into Lucian’s ear.

“It’s not right,” Lucian whined quietly. 

“Everything about it is right, Lu,” Callahan said. He slipped his hand down Lucian’s body and cupped his ass. “Especially here.” He grinned at Lucian in the mirror.

Lucian blushed and pulled his gaze away from Callahan’s. 

“I guess it’ll do,” he muttered.

Callahan nodded and kissed to the top of his head. He stepped back from Lucian, who took one last look of himself before turning away from the mirror with a long sigh. His narrow, pale face was accentuated slightly with expertly blended contour; his brows were heavily defined, as were his almond-shaped eyes. He had managed to conceal the bags under his eyes quite well. Lucian hadn’t been sleeping much of late. Neither had Callahan for that matter, but at least Lucian had the excuse of pulling several all-nighters for his final exams. Callahan on the other hand was just having nightmares that he very much needed to get over. 

“Let's go,” Lucian said with nod. He slipped his hand into Callahan’s and the pair left the hotel room together. 

The pair had one of the hotel’s many penthouses at their disposal. The floor they were staying on boasted two other penthouses, but neither were occupied at the time. Despite how nice it was to hold Lucian’s hand in his own, it wasn’t entirely appropriate given he was on duty. Regardless, he would give Lucian this small assurance until they reached the lobby, or found company in the elevator.

Lucian called the elevator with a sharp jab of his thumb and glowered at the doors as he waited impatiently. His body was stiff with nervous energy and he shifted from foot to foot every once and a while. Callahan didn’t blame him for his nerves. He himself was feeling a touch nervous. This would be his first public appearance as Lucian’s guardian, and on top of that they were going to see Lucian’s father. Callahan was far from Lord Samirilian's biggest fan. Not only was Lord Samirilian’s treatment of shifters appalling, but so was his treatment of his own son. Though Lucian had never spoken of it to Callahan, there was a reason he couldn’t drink human blood anymore, and that reason was undoubtedly his father. 

Callahan, and he was sure Lucian as well, could have gone the summer without seeing hide nor hair of Lord Samirilian, but unfortunately for the pair, Lucian’s father had demanded Lucian’s presence at a renowned vampire resort for the duration of the summer. It was customary in the summer months for vampires to converge at different resorts scattered around the country to partake in relaxation and the occasional debauchery. Lucian was no stranger to these sort of summers, but Callahan's had always been spent training at shifter camps. He wasn’t much looking forward to the prospect of being surrounded by a slew of noble vampires with way too much time on their hands.

When the elevator finally arrived, the pair moved inside together. Callahan pushed the button for the lobby, and the elevator began the slow descent eight floors to where Lucian’s father waited. 

“I know I’ve already said this, but you did a really great job on your finals,” Callahan said, glancing down at Lucian. 

“Thanks,” Lucian said with a tired smile. “I got my ass handed to me studying but it did pay off.” Lucian had scored almost perfectly on all of his exams, which was more than enough to pull his grades out of the red.

“Next year maybe you can do work throughout the semester so you don’t get your ass kicked by finals?” Callahan suggested.

“Not a chance,” Lucian snorted. He flashed a quick smile up at Callahan before leveling his eyes on the floor again. “You look really good by the way,” he mumbled under his breath.

“Hm, what was that?” Callahan teased as he nestled his chin against Lucian’s shoulder.

“You look hot,” Lucian griped loudly. “It’s nice seeing you out of sweats every once and a while.”

Callahan grinned at him. He had traded his typical outfit of sweatpants and a tank-top for khaki pants, a black shirt, and a leather jacket. Now that he was guardian he had a certain dresscode to adhere to, one that unfortunately didn’t include sweats.

“You look good in this number,” Callahan said, gesturing to Lucian's outfit. “You also look just as good out of it. I quite enjoyed the seven strip teases you gave while you picked something out.”

Lucian opened his mouth to retort, but at that moment the elevator doors slid open. The pair pulled away from each other and Lucian slipped his hand out of Callahan’s.

Callahan’s eyes immediately moved beyond the door. All thoughts of Lucian in just a pair of tight briefs were pushed from his mind as he slid into the mindset of a bodyguard. His eyes flickered sharply over the pair that were entering the elevator from the fifth floor.

They were both shifters and had been talking amicably with each other when the doors opened. They gave Lucian a polite nod as they stepped inside. Lucian kept his gaze averted, his cheeks covered in a soft blush.

The shifters continued chatting as the elevator completed its descent. They exited first into the lobby and Lucian and Callahan followed. 

The lobby was an expansive room with a lofty, painted ceiling. Broad columns that, despite their breadth, were elegant in design mingled throughout the room. The floor was an entire slab of green marble that was covered in places by a cream-colored carpet. 

Callahan had already taken ample stock of the overdone luxury and his eyes instead flickered over the few occupants of the lobby. Lucian gravitated immediately to the pair that sat on the plush couches in one corner of the room. He had that painfully fake smile plastered across his face as he bounded over to his father. Ethan looked up before Lord Samirilian did. His eyes did a cursory sweep of both Lucian and Callahan as he rose to his feet.

Lucian’s father glanced up as his shifter stood up. 

“Father!” Lucian said excitedly, drawing the attention his father’s eyes.

His father’s thin lips pressed together in a forced smile of greeting. Lucian cleared the remaining paces between them and tossed himself on the couch next to his father. He nuzzled his head against his father’s shoulder and smiled up at him. “It’s good to see you; I missed you.”

Callahan sincerely doubted that was the case. Lucian had gone as white as a sheet when he’d received the text from his father announcing that he would spend the summer with him at Hotel Mirada. His horror had been so viscerally apparent that all of the shifters in the living room where they had been gathered to play charades had turned to him and voiced concern. 

Lucian had shook his head fervently, muttering that it was nothing and quickly excusing himself from the room. Callahan had hurried after him into the kitchen, where he found him bent over the counter, his arms shaking as he pressed his hands against the edge of the counter.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Callahan had asked softly, running his hand gently down Lucian’s back. 

“My father,” Lucian had murmured. “He wants me to spend the summer with him.” Lucian’s face had twisted painfully. “Last summer I got to do classes here. I wanted to do that again. I was—I was even hoping I could stay here in the cottage with you guys. That would have been so nice.” Lucian’s voice had been barely above a whisper.

It had taken Callahan some time to console Lucian over his crushed hopes for the summer and convince him to return to the living room where the others were. For someone who had been so undone over his newfound summer plans, Lucian was currently doing a great job of looking like he was over the moon.

“Lucian,” Lord Samirilian said tersely. “Stand up. Let me take a look at you.” 

Lucian blanched. He pulled away from his father and rose to his feet. His chin tucked instinctively against his chest and he stared at his feet.

“Your hair,” Lord Samirilian said in a cold voice. “What the hell happened to it?”

“I had to cut it,” Lucian whispered. “There was so much blood in it after the church.” He swallowed as he raised his fingers to the shortened locks. “Does it—does it look bad?”

“Yes,” Lord Samirilian said with a snort. 

Lucian flinched visibly. Callahan’s jaw tightened and he had to forcibly pull his glare away from Lord Samirilian. He felt Ethan’s gaze shift to him. He glanced over at the other shifter, but Ethan had already looked back at Lucian. His face was a mask, but his eyes were soft. He was amply familiar with the father and son dynamic.

“That shirt too,” Lucian’s father continued. “Get rid of it; it doesn’t look good on you.”

Lucian nodded. His cheeks were bright red with embarrassment and he hadn’t lifted his gaze from the ground.

“I see you’ve taken the shifter as your guardian,” Lord Samirilian said, changing the subject shockingly quickly. He looked up at Callahan and ran his eyes openly over him.

Callahan schooled his face to impassive as he endured the vampire’s lingering gaze.

“Ah, yes,” Lucian said quietly. He glanced up at Callahan with an unreadable expression.

"He's a good choice," Lord Samirilian practically purred.

It took every ounce of Callahan's willpower not to openly cringe at the words.

“Let us go to dinner,” Lord Samirilian continued, rising from the couch.

Callahan fell into step beside Ethan, trailing after the pair of vampires. Lord Samirilian led the way across the lobby to the elevator bay, and from there they went up three floors to a slightly more exclusive restaurant than the one on the first floor. 

Dinner was a blessedly uneventful affair; Callahan chalked up Lord Samirilian not making jabs at his son as uneventful. Lucian’s father questioned him on how the end of his fourth school year had been, and was actually quite impressed by Lucian’s scores on his final exams. Callahan had expected Lord Samirilian to aggressively pressure his son about his plans following school, but it turned out that Lucian’s father had promised not to harass him on the subject until his fifth year of high school. 

The supernatural world didn’t boast any colleges or universities. Instead, shifters and vampires alike attended five years of very rigorous high school before, for the most part, proceeding directly into employment in some variation. Occasionally vampires would attend school at a human college to continue their education and immerse themselves in human culture. This was rather rare for vampires of a notably prominent family, like Lucian’s. 

Since the father and son pair didn’t discuss Lucian’s future past school, Callahan was left wondering what Lucian planned on doing. He had never struck Callahan as one who would enjoy the intrigue of court life, but considering his heritage that was the expected path for him. Callahan found himself hoping that Lucian would manage to convince his father to allow him to attend a human college. Callahan was by no means overjoyed at the thought of working at the vampire court. He wouldn’t mind continuing his education alongside Lucian at a university, but at the end of the day, the decision most likely laid in Lord Samirilian’s hands, and certainly not Callahan’s. 

* * *

 

“Good night!” I called over my shoulder as Callahan and I exited the elevator onto our floor.

My father gave me a small smile in return as the elevator doors slid shut.

As soon as the doors were sealed, I released a heavy sigh and my shoulders slumped. I dragged myself down the hall, feeling thoroughly emotionally eviscerated from the night. I could feel Callahan’s gaze on me as I trudged to the door. I pulled out my wallet and pressed it to the door sensor. The door clicked open and I pushed inside.

“How are you feeling?” Callahan asked quietly as he shut the door behind us.

I ignored the question as I yanked off my suit jacket and tossed it aside. I dragged the soft lilac blouse over my head and hurled into the fireplace.

“Lu, you don’t have to do that,” Callahan said as he followed me across the room.

I snatched the box of matches off the mantle and crouched down in front of the heart. I fumbled out a match and struck against the box, but it only snapped in half. I repeated the process three more times, getting progressively more frustrated each time the match snapped.

Callahan reached out and took the box gently from my hands. He struck a match. A small flame fluttered to life. He handed the lit match to me carefully.

“It’s a pretty shirt,” he murmured. “You can wear it when your father isn’t around.”

I stared down at the small flame as it licked down the length of the match. He was right; I could wear it when my father couldn’t see me, but I couldn’t imagine putting it on and not remembering my father sneering at me in disgust. 

I tossed the match on the shirt.

It took several more matches to catch the shirt alit entirely, but Callahan continued to help me. Once I was satisfied with the ashen state of the shirt, I stood up with a heavy sigh. Callahan followed suite.

“Wanna watch a movie?” he asked, as he ran a hand over my short locks.

I nodded.

We piled into the master bed together and took to searching for a suitable form of entertainment after a decidedly terrible night. We decided upon a stupidly funny comedy movies and settled back against the surplus of pillows. I curled up against Callahan’s side and he put his arm over my shoulders.

About halfway through the movie, I found that Callahan had fallen asleep beside me. I was happy to find him looking so at peace resting against the mountain of pillows. He had been looking exhausted the last few days to a worrying extent. I had the feeling this was due to residual discomfort over the guardian exam, but he had yet to discuss it with me.

I climbed out of bed and shut off the television and overhead lights. The curtains were already tugged tightly closed, preventing the dawn light from reaching us. I slipped off my annoyingly tight dress pants and crawled into bed. I tucked Callahan and myself beneath the large duvet. Callahan had rolled onto his side with his back to me. I fitted myself against him and tossed my arm over his waist.

Exhaustion washed over me almost immediately. It had only been a sparse handful of days since the last of my exams and almost eight consecutive all nighters had certainly taken their toll on me. At least the torturous lack of sleep had paid off.

I fell into a fitful slumber only to be pulled from sleep a few hours later from muffled groans beside me. I blinked my eyes open, finding myself splayed partially over Callahan's chest. Callahan groaned again. His brows knitted together as an expression of distress morphed his features. He jerked slightly and his head twisted to the side.

“Hey," I whispered, sitting up on my elbow. I reached out and shook his shoulder. “Cal, wake up.”

Callahan stilled. His face softened. I leaned forward.

“Ca—“

Callahan’s eyes flashed open. They were glazed with a deep glow of green. I gasped and jerked backward. Callahan shot upright.

“Mom,” he whispered in a panicked, broken voice. 

“Callahan, it's okay.” I quickly threw my arms over Callahan’s shoulders. “It’s okay; it was just a bad dream. You’re okay.” I nuzzled my face against his back. Callahan’s body trembled against mine. He shook his head slowly.

“No, no,” he whispered. “It wasn’t—that was, that was real.” He curled in on himself, resting his forehead on his knees. “That all happened.”


	28. Announcement

I have emailed out the PDFs of the extended edition to those who ordered them. Hopefully I will continue writing soon. Things have been rough lately, but I miss my boys.


	29. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a real new chapter??? hell yeah!! hope you all enjoy!! sorry for the lack of new content.   
> also ignore the new obscene title my friend 'bought' the right to name the story for one update cycle XD

"That all happened,” Callahan whispered.

I burrowed my face against Callahan’s back and rubbed gentle circles against his skin with my thumbs. 

“What happened?” I breathed against him, but I knew with his keen shifter hearing he had heard me. 

He was silent for a long, painful moment before finally speaking:

“It happened when I was eight,” Callahan began in a tight voice. “My mom was…she was a sex worker. She worked at a brothel; the patrons were vampires and shifters. There was this one patron, a shifter, who was always harassing the women. My mom reported him and his membership was revoked. 

“One night, he broke into our apartment. He was drunk and livid and he got ahold of my mom. He beat and…he beat her to death in front of me. Then he just left. I didn’t—I didn’t know what to do. I crawled across the room and lay down next to my mom’s body. I just lay there for days until the stench of decay drew the neighbors into our apartment.”  
I pressed myself tighter against Callahan’s back, completely at a loss for how to verbally comfort him.

“The examination, it pulls out your worst memories to create scenarios to test you. That was one that it chose for me. I was…there, again, in that room. I was eight again, watching my mother get beat to death. And then suddenly I was twenty-three; I was stronger and I could fight him, but then…” Callahan’s voice drifted away.

“Then what?” I asked in a fractured voice.

“You,” he whispered. “You were there, and you were in trouble. The exam was flawed in that my mom was already dead and I could never save her, but everything still felt so real. Of course I chose you; you’re alive and I wanted to pass the exam, but once again feeling so utterly powerless—“ Callahan shook his head— “it was horrible.”

“I’m sorry,” I murmured. I hated that the exam had forced Callahan to choose between me and his mother, even if saving his mother wasn’t an option. I had had no idea just how awful the exams were for guardians. No wonder so many offed themselves afterward, or just failed all together. Reliving real life memories like that—I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to handle that.

A sickening thought twisted insidiously in the back of my mind; a question: what had Eden been forced to face? And how much of his horrible memories could be attributed to me? Callahan’s voice spared me further thought. 

“I’d come to terms with my mom’s death a long time ago—it’s been fifteen years. But now it feels like it just happened all over again.”  
“Is that why you haven’t been sleeping well?” I asked.

“You could tell?” Callahan huffed a bitter laugh.

“You’ve seemed a bit tired of late,” I said. I rubbed my forehead against his back and slid my arms down so they sat on his waist. Callahan ran his hands over my forearms.

“It’s been an exhausting few weeks for both of us.”

I refrained from pointing out that my exhaustion was due to academics and not re-witnessing my mother’s grotesque murder.

“Yeah,” I murmured against the back of his neck, “it has.” My arms tightened around his waist. “Thank you for telling me that.”

Callahan nodded and said, “It feels good to talk about it. I didn’t even give Vanessa the details; just the idea of what had happened.”

“That means a lot to me,” I said, and promptly flushed scarlet as my voice cracked on the last word.

“We should try to get some rest,” Callahan said, patting my arm. “You have that brunch tomorrow.”

“Ugh,” I groaned as I flopped back against the pillows. “That’s going to be a torturous affair.”

“You’ll be free for the rest of the day after that,” Callahan pointed out.

“Can I sleep for the rest of the day?” I whined as I snuggled back against the pillows.

“You don’t need my permission to do that,” Callahan said with a laugh. He disentangled himself from my legs and climbed out of bed.

“Wh—“ The syllable left my lips on a breath of confusion.

“Sorry I crashed in your bed,” Callahan said.

“O-oh, that’s fine.”

“Night.”

“Good night,” I murmured as Callahan left the room. 

I pulled the covers back over myself and curled up beneath them. It made sense that Callahan wouldn’t want to spend the night with me; for that matter I shouldn’t want to either. We’d barely been going out for any time now. It was decidedly weird that I had grown so clingy so quickly. I needed to reel it in.

With this in mind, I let myself fall into the solitary comforts of the bed and sleep.

* * *

Callahan reached out and pressed his finger tips lightly to what he was just going to assume was Lucian’s shoulder. The only confirmation that there was a presence in Lucian’s bed was a large vampire-sized mound in the middle of the bed.

Callahan shook Lucian’s sleeping form gently, but the vampire didn’t even stir. Callahan pressed harder and gave Lucian a fervent shake. They had a little over an hour to get down to brunch. Callahan was fully aware that Lucian preferred much more time to get ready, but waking him up any earlier would have given the vampire only a few hours of sleep. Neither Lucian nor Callahan could give up precious hours of sleep considering their mutual exhaustion.

The mound on the bed finally stirred and Lucian poked his from beneath the covers on the far side of the bed. Callahan’s brow furrowed and the pair glanced simultaneously at where Callahan’s hand rested.

“Why are you poking my butt?” Lucian asked, his voice thick with sleepy confusion.

“Why are you sleeping sideways?” Callahan replied with equal confusion, though his voice was free from tiredness give he’d been up for a half hour to do a few sit up and push up reps in his room.

Lucian snorted derisively. Callahan took the non-verbal comment as a ‘because I can’. Lucian flopped back down on the mattress and pulled the comforter over his head once more.

“Lu, you gotta get up,” Callahan said, his lips curling in a small smile. He rested the hand that had been kneading Lucian’s butt, apparently, and placed it on the mattress. He kneeled over Lucian’s form and pulled the comforter back from his head. “You only have an hour until brunch.”

“Can we skip?” Lucian whined. He pushed his mussed up locks out of his face and glowered up at Callahan. 

“Your father is expecting you,” Callahan said gently.

“Just tell him I’m sick.”

“Lu, it’s the first event of a very long summer; let’s hold onto your faking ill card for later.”

Lucian grimaced, but he nodded. He sat up and Callahan sat back on his heels.

“Okay,” Lucian grumbled. “I’ll be ready in a second.”

“I doubt that,” Callahan said with a laugh. He bent forward and pressed a quick kiss to Lucian’s forehead.

Lucian rolled his eyes. Callahan climbed off the bed and left the room. He took a seat on the couch to wait for Lucian to emerge. He had already showered and donned appropriate attire for the coming affair.

His wait wasn’t as long as last night. Callahan couldn’t be certain if this had to do with their limited time or the fact that Lucian had found a suitable outfit quickly. Last night Lord Samirilian had bequeathed his son with a vague ‘see you there’, so they didn’t really have a set time when they had to arrive at the brunch. Callahan wouldn’t have been surprised if Lucian had picked finding the perfect outfit over being on time.

Regardless, Lucian appeared in the doorway of the master bedroom with five minutes to spare. He was dressed in plain black overalls with a light blue shirt beneath them. Between the overalls and the pair of summery wedges he wore, Lucian’s legs looking exceptionally long.

Callahan smiled up at him as Lucian clopped across the room in an annoyed fashion. Callahan knew full well that Lucian was an expert in heels and was just being ungraceful to reinforce the fact that he did not approve of the early hour.

“Looking good,” Callahan said as he rose to his feet. 

“Thanks.” The word morphed into a long yawn, one that Lucian didn’t bother covering. The vampire’s hand twitched in Callahan’s direction, but suddenly he spun sharply on his heel and stomped to the door.

Callahan frowned as he followed after him. Maybe he’d just imagined it, but that had seemed an awful lot like Lucian had wanted to take his hand. He stared down at Lucian’s slender fingers as Lucian pushed the room door open. If Lucian didn’t want to hold hands this morning, Callahan wouldn’t pressure him. Lucian was quite finicky and irrational about most things in his life; Callahan wouldn’t be surprised if that extended to hand holding. 

They reached the elevator and Lucian pressed the down button. They waited in silence. Callahan opted for slipping his hands into the pockets of the light hoodie he wore, while Lucian’s fingers twined together nervously. 

The elevator announced its arrival with a soft ding and the doors slid open. Lucian stepped inside and Callahan followed. He moved to the back of the elevator and leaned against the wall. After Lucian had pressed the button for the lobby, he joined Callahan against the wall.

“Sorry I woke you up last night,” Callahan said in a low voice. He couldn’t help but feel Lucian’s mood had to do with last night.

Lucian’s head jerked up and he stared up at Callahan with wide, surprised eyes. 

“Oh, no, that wasn’t your fault,” Lucian said earnestly. 

Callahan gave him a small, grateful smile. Lucian flushed and glanced at the floor.

The elevator doors opened on the fourth floor, admitting a group of vampires and shifters alike. They were all in their late teens, though Callahan didn’t recognize them as Lucian’s classmates. Plenty of the other vampires at Lucian’s schools had families staying at the Mirada.

The vampires glanced at Lucian and Callahan as they settled into the elevator. They murmured quietly to each other, by no means hiding the fact that they were talking about Lucian and Callahan. Lucian rooted his gaze to the floor and glared fiercely at the carpet. 

Callahan kept his gaze flitting around the small elevator. He caught eyes with several of the shifters as they too accessed the cramped quarters of the elevator. All four of the shifters were younger than himself and none were alpha so they gave him quick, deferential nods when their eyes met.

The elevator doors finally opened at the lobby and the other vampires and shifters piled out. Lucian gave a small sigh of relief and peeled himself away from the wall. 

Callahan followed him out of the elevator and the pair followed their elevator companions towards the restaurant where the brunch was being held. Callahan could feel his heartbeat quickening as he drew closer to the room, which was abuzz with conversation since it was already packed with vampires and shifters alike.

Last night might have been his first public appearance as Lucian’s guardian, but this would be his first appearance in an overwhelmingly large crowd of people. Callahan tried to remind himself that this was no different than his role at the Hemsworth estate, but the weight of his responsibility to Lucian felt heavy on his shoulders.

The pair arrived at the open double doors of the restaurant. Shifters on the staff of the hotel flanked the doors. They gave the pair a once over before moving their gaze passed them.

Callahan followed Lucian into the room. As the swell of conversation he had heard from the lobby had suggested, the room was packed with vampires and shifters. 

Callahan drew in a deep, calming breath and set about accessing the room for threats. Lucian on the other hand set his mind on one and one thing only. He made a beeline across the room to the long table that was laden with refreshments. He didn’t help himself to any of the food available, instead snatching up a champagne flute of orange juice.

Callahan glanced down at the collection of perfectly organized glasses, which were separated into two groups by a slightly larger gap by a garland of white flowers. There were two small notes differentiating the two groups, declaring one as alcoholic and the other as non-alcoholic. Lucian had, of course, taken from the alcoholic selection.

Lucian turned around as he brought the glass to his lips and finally allowed his gaze to meander around the room to take in his surroundings. Callahan settled into place behind him and looked around as well. 

A dart of movement caught Callahan’s attention and he looked around quickly. A pair of waist-high vampires appeared by the buffet table. They were giggling excitedly to each other as they pointed to the glasses of spiked orange juice.

Callahan looked around, but it appeared the two children had managed to shake their shifter somewhere in the crowded room. Lucian looked down as well, drawn by the sound of the mischievous giggles.

One of the boys reached out and grabbed ahold of one of the alcoholic glasses. He pulled it off the table. His sister, Callahan assumed since they looked nearly identical, egged him on by eagerly shaking his arm.

Callahan rolled his eyes and looked away. He didn’t envy the shifter who was in charge of those two, but he also didn’t much care if they wanted to get plastered.

“Nope, nope, nope.” Lucian’s voice interrupted the pair’s devious scheme. He down his own glass and handed it off to Callahan. He then quickly snatched the glass from the boy’s hand. “This is for adults.” Lucian knocked the second glass as well and flashed the siblings a grin.

The pair pouted up at him. The brother stepped forward and his sullen expression turned to a glare.

“What the fuck?” he said in a high pitched voice.

Callahan’s eyes widened at the utterance of foul languages, but Lucian only laughed.

“What the fuck yourself,” he said. He reached out and flicked the boy’s forehead. “Tell you what, when you’re sixteen, I’ll buy you as much alcohol as your lush self desires.”

“Henric, Annette.” A voice of relief reached them from a few feet away. A young female shifter emerged from between two clusters of vampires. “There you two are,” she said. “Don’t run off like that.”

“We were just thirsty,” Anette mumbled as she slid her hand into her brothers.

Henric glanced up at Lucian, his eyes narrowed. Lucian reached out and pinched two glasses of plain orange juice together and handed them to the siblings.

“Don’t go losing your shifter like that,” Lucian said. “That’s a dick move.”

Henric and Anette took the glasses from him. Their shifter cast Lucian a grateful smile and ushered the pair away.

“Do you like kids?” Callahan asked as he set Lucian’s empty glass on the table. 

Lucian shrugged as he moved away from the buffet table and immersed himself in the crowd.

“They’re whatever,” Lucian muttered under his breath.

Callahan smiled as he saw the tips of Lucian’s ears go red.

Lucian spent the next hour or so mingling through the crowd. He bumped into his father at one point and they exchanged a cursory greeting, but his father had been in the midst of an earnest conversation with a stunning female vampire with auburn ringlets. Lord Samirilian hadn’t appeared to be in any way flirting with the woman, Callahan was thankful to see. Seeing Lucian’s father flirt with someone would have made his stomach turn. Instead the pair seemed to be engaged in some sort of business discussion.

Lucian stopped every once and a while for brief conversations of his own. All of the vampires he chatted with were significantly older than himself and all appeared to be friends of his father. Lucian seemed to only greet them on his father’s behalf. About half of the vampires were women who treated Lucian like he was a sweet little doll, preening over him and blanketing him with excessive compliments on how cute he looked. The other half were men and while they too preened they did so in a decidedly more licentious manner. Callahan had to forcibly prevent himself from breaking the arm of one man who actually cupped Lucian’s ass at one point. Lucian had only laughed off the groping, but his eyes, which he kept downcast, screamed murder.

After Lucian managed to extricate himself from both the man's hand and his barely concealed innuendos, he breathed a heavy sigh of relief and finished off the rest of his fourth glass of spiked orange juice. His laps of the room had always taken him back to the refreshment table to help himself through the brunch. He hadn’t eaten anything yet, which worried Callahan more than a little. In his view, Lucian had paid his social dues and could leave whenever he wanted. Once they got back to the room, Callahan would make sure to order him a large breakfast to balance out the alcohol he had consumed.

Lucian seemed to be of the similar mindset that he had met his socializing quota for the event. He made unhurried progress toward the exit so as to seem like he wasn’t fleeing, but Callahan could tell that his meandering through the crowd in that direction was by no means random.

Lucian suddenly came to a stand still in the midst of the crowd and Callahan almost bumped into him. Lucian’s shoulders were stiff and his eyes were rooted on a point somewhere in the crowd to their left. 

Lucian darted forward and Callahan was forced to hurry after him. 

“Mom.” 

The word that left Lucian’s lips was barely audible, but Callahan could have sworn that was what had been spoken. Lucian reached out and his fingers reached. A hand quickly closed around his wrist. Callahan jerked forward and placed a protective hand on Lucian’s shoulder as his eyes met those of another shifter.

Lucian didn’t notice either shifter as he stared up at a tall, willowy woman. His fingers strained out to reach her.

Callahan stared at the woman. Her thick black hair was piled high on her head, leaving her narrow neck exposed. A thin silver necklace twined around her neck with a dark onyx latch resting at her nape.

Having noticed the movement of the shifter, the vampire turned around. Her dark eyes stared down at Lucian, being a head taller than him even with elegant pumps she wore. Her face was soft and kind.

“O-oh,” Lucian stuttered. “S-sorry, I thought you were…someone else.”

“That’s alright, dear,” the woman said.

Lucian’s head jerked in an awkward nod. He pulled back and turned away, hurriedly setting off toward one of the side doors, which was closer than the main exit. The woman’s brows raised in surprise. Callahan inclined in his in a quick apologetic nod before turning and following Lucian out of the room. 

Lucian’s head was down as he barreled down the narrow corridor. Callahan could hear his stuttering panicked breathes. Callahan gritted his teeth. He wanted more than anything to catch Lucian up in arms and hold him tightly, but he couldn’t do that until the privacy of their own room.

The sound of approaching footsteps made him look up. A tall, sturdily built vampire was loping down the hall toward them with an androgynous shifter in tow. The vampire had a thatch of wayward brown hair and a kind, open face. His dark blue eyes rested on Lucian. His brows widened as recognition sparked across his features.

The vampire bounded forward. He looked so genuinely friendly that Callahan didn’t perceive a threat, but suddenly he caught Lucian up in his arms. Lucian gasped in surprise. The vampire spun and pinned Lucian to the wall. Lucian’s hands fell to the unknown vampire’s shoulders to steady himself. His surprise morphed to recognition and his mouth opened to say something, but suddenly the vampire was slamming lips against Lucian’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ellington is a good bean and he doesn't deserve what i have in store for him lmaoooooo


	30. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woo look who's back! i had half this chapter written for a while and finally figured out what to do with the second half. hope y'all enjoy!

Elly’s tongue slid between my teeth. I mewed in shock as he toyed with the ridge of my mouth. I pushed against the wall behind me as if I could shove through it and escape Elly. My hands squeezed his shoulders and I pushed against him hard.

Elly pulled back. He was grinning in that puppy-dog way of his, but his head was cocked to the side in confusion. 

“What's up, cutie?” he said. “That's a bit of a lackluster greeting, don’t'cha think?”

My eyes flitted over his shoulder and my chin found refuge against my chest as I met Callahan’s gaze. His eyes burned bright green; his face was a hard plain of composure that threatened to crack with anger. He must have closed the gap somewhat between Elly and I, but a trembling arm prevented him from moving forward. Elly's shifter stood beside Callahan. They were a good foot shorter than Cal. Their head was ducked and they were quaking slightly beside the alpha shifter, but they refused to drop their arm and let Callahan closer to Elly.

“El-Ellington,” I said in a trembling voice as I glanced back at the vampire that had me pinned to the wall.

“What’sup, Luie?” Ellington asked. His hands slid over my thighs and he gave my ass a squeeze.

I jerked my head to the side quickly, hiding my face from Callahan.

“You forgotten already how good I make you feel; it hasn’t been that long since—“

I slammed my hand over Ellington’s mouth and hissed quietly. Daze, Elly’s poor outmatched shifter, was shaking next to Callahan. Waves of anger crashed off the alpha, but were kept at bay from Elly by Daze, for now.

“I'm seeing someone," I said, quite loudly and mostly for Callahan’s benefit

“So?” Ellington said in genuine confusion. 

“S-so.” My eyes flickered between Elly and Callahan.

Ellington finally looked around to take stock of his surroundings. His eyes immediately found Callahan and I felt him stiffen against me.

“Ah," Elly said as realization dawned on him. He pulled me away from the wall and carefully set me down. "Sorry about that.” He took a small step away from me and gestured for Daze to pull back as well. 

Daze dropped their arm and widened the distance between theirself and Callahan. I moved to Cal’s side and slid my hand in his. 

“You can’t just go around making out with people, Elly," I scolded him as I rested my head against Callahan’s arm. I hoped against hope that this would help calm down his alpha vibes.

Elly laughed uncomfortably and rubbed the back of his neck. “My bad," he said. "Didn't realize you’d ever get exclusive with a shifter.”

“Uh, yeah,” I said with an equally uncomfortable laugh of my own. “I-it’s a new thing, but—yeah. It’s, um good to see you.”

“You too.” Elly flashed me a genuine grin. “I like your hair by the way; it's really cute.”

“Thanks," I said with a smile.

“I have to go make an appearance at that shindig; I’ll catch you later, cutie.”

“Bye.” I waved as he and Daze passed by. I breathed a small sigh of relief as I felt the stiffness leave Callahan’s body as their footsteps receded. 

“Sorry about that,” I murmured. I pulled away from Callahan, but kept my hand in his.

Callahan shook his head and released a small sigh, expelling the last tension in his body. “Not your fault," he said. “I was just taken by surprise.” He reached out and stroked the back of my head, fixing the hair that had been mussed up when I’d been pushed against the wall. 

“So, who was that?" he asked as we set off down the corridor once more, our fingers still laced together.

“Ellington," I said, “he lived on my floor last year, but he’s been studying abroad the last two semesters. We, uh, had a thing."

“I gathered," Callahan said with a small chuckle. “So, can I call you Luie?”

“Absolutely not,” I said with a glower. We had reached the lobby by now so I slipped my hand out of his. “I hate when he calls me that, but he likes to tease me." I flounced across the lobby towards the elevators with Callahan close on my heels.

“I understand the appeal in that,” Callahan said with a laugh. 

I rolled my eyes as I jammed my thumb against the elevator button. Ellington’s appearance had been a welcome, albeit a touch dicey, distraction from what had just happened at brunch. Unfortunately the distraction was short lived as I found my thoughts flitting back to the woman I had mistook for someone else entirely.

My shoulders hunched up slightly and my gaze fell to the floor. The elevator doors slid opened and I moved inside slowly. Callahan followed me and pressed the button for our floor. 

I slouched against the back wall of the elevator. Callahan followed suite. He must have picked up on the fact that my disposition had shifted to sullen because he didn’t continue teasing me about Ellington. 

The elevator doors slid open and I trudged down the hall to our door. I hadn’t bothered bringing my wallet with me, so Callahan reached over my shoulder and unlocked the door with his key.

I moved inside and started down the hall, but suddenly Callahan’s arms coiled around my shoulders. I gasped in surprised as he pulled me back against his chest. The door clicked shut behind us and I released a long, trembling sigh as I finally let the palpable disappointment and confusion rush over me.

She wasn’t here. 

Of course she wasn’t; she had exiled herself to Romania following the divorce and I doubted she had any intention of ever setting foot on American soil again. Her cruel, disgusted words still echoed in my head from the last time I had seen her; when she and my father had gotten into a horrible verbal battle and she had left, never to return even for the two hundred year old jewels she had left behind.

“Lucian.” Callahan’s chest vibrated against my back as he spoke my name, melting my body against his. “What happened at brunch? Who was that woman?”

“N-no one,” I stuttered. My hands slid over Callahan’s arms and I clung desperately to him.

“Who did you think she was?” 

“My…my mom,” I breathed. “They look so alike—from the back. I thought—I was so stupid.” I shuddered as a small sob threatened to bubble out of me.

Callahan withdrew his arms. He pressed his hand to the small of my back and ushered me over to the couch. We sat down together and Callahan pulled me against him. 

“She’d never be here,” I whispered as I drew my knees to my chest. I kicked off my shoes and slipped my feet into Callahan’s lap. “I don’t know why I thought, but I just wanted—“ I bit my lip and pressed my face against Callahan’s chest. “I miss her,” I breathed.

Callahan pressed his lips against the crown of my head. His arms wrapped around me and he held me for a long, silent moment. I let myself fall into the silence. My breathing regulated and the tears that had pricked my eyes dissipated. Callahan’s scent encompassed me, familiar and safe.

“I know how that feels,” Callahan finally said as he pulled back. “Missing someone so much you end up seeing them in other people. It hurts; the hope that they’re there and then the realization that they aren’t.”

There was nothing in this world that I could fathom as more agonizing than missing a mother. In some twisted way I almost envied Callahan for the fact that his mother was dead. To have mine still alive in this world and abhorring me with every fiber of her being absolutely destroyed me.

“I just want her to come home, but she’s never going to, and I hate that I’m why, I’m why she left.”

“You can’t blame yourself, Lu,” Callahan said in a soft, appeasing voice.

I grimaced at his generic words, despite knowing full well I would have answered just the same if I had been in his position. I couldn’t help the bite of anger that entered my words.

“Yes, I can because I _am_ to blame,” I spat viciously against his chest. “I know this; I _know_ this.” My voice fractured in a pathetic manner and Callahan pulled me closer. “She said as much, when she left; she said it’s my fault because I’m—I’m—“ A heavy silence hung between us for a long moment before I finally whispered, “I’m not her son.”

Callahan didn’t speak, simply drew me even closer to him. I felt like I could melt into him and I welcomed the prospect.

“If I wasn’t…if I didn’t exist, she wouldn’t have left.”

“Don’t you think,” Callahan finally spoke in a low voice, “your father should shoulder at least some of the blame as well.”

“I know, but—“ I bit my lip. Regardless of what my father had done—with _who_ he’d had a child—I still felt wholly responsible for this. I shook my head and pressed against Callahan.

“Thank you,” Callahan murmured, “for sharing all this with me. I know just how hard it is to open up about these sort of things.”

“I’ve never actually told anyone that,” I whispered as it slowly sunk in that I had finally shared my illegitimacy with someone. Not even Myrna knew the root of my deep seated mommy issues, or that I even had them. I was generally, and accurately, pegged for having daddy issues.

“I’m—I don’t know how to say this,” Callahan said with a dry laugh. “Honored, I guess? That I’m the first you told.”

I laughed quietly. “You’re quite welcome,” I said with feigned haughtiness. I slipped fully into Callahan’s lap, my legs straddling him. I leaned back and coiled my arms loosely around his neck. I grinned at him.

Callahan chuckled. He reached up and wiped the few wayward tears off of my cheeks. 

“For the record,” Callahan said, “I’m glad you exist.”

“Shut up you sappy asshole,” I said, rolling my eyes. I ducked forward gave him a quick kiss. “I’m gonna shower; I feel gross from crying.” I grinned wolfishly. “And from having someone other than you shove their tongue in my mouth.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Callahan said with growly chuckle.

I grinned at him and climbed out of his lap. “We don’t have to leave the room again today, right?” 

“You have fulfilled your quota of socializing for the day,” Callahan said with a nod.

“Thank fuck,” I groaned as I trotted off to the bathroom to spend an absurdly long time on my lotioning routine.

* * *

Despite a lack of social obligation to leave the room, Callahan and Lucian ended up doing just that. Lucian had received a text from Ellington a little after midnight. Callahan was rather impressed that Ellington could even sound bubbly and overly excited through text. The vampire eagerly invited Lucian to a party he was holding that morning. Ellington seemed to be aware of Lucian’s reluctance toward social interaction and had sent about an inch long speech bubble of just ‘please’s. Lucian had eventually acquiesced to going to the party, but he made damn sure Ellington knew that he was going out of his way for the older vampire.

Ellington had also begged for Callahan’s presence at the party, or else the shifter might not have gone. With security as tight as it was in the vampire resort hotel, Callahan didn’t need to be Lucian’s constant shadow. But between the insistence of both vampires, Callahan finally caved and agreed to accompany Lucian.

In unsurprising Lucian fashion, the vampire took no less than two hours to get ready, and arrived approximately one hour and fifty two minutes past the party’s start time.

Ellington appeared to expect no less of Lucian. He greeted Lucian with open arms, and, Callahan was glad to see, not a kiss. Ellington also eagerly greeted Callahan, though he forwent the hug when Callahan glanced at his wide spread arms with a flat look. 

The vampire took it all in stride, slinging an arm around Lucian’s shoulders to drag him off to the drink table, calling over the thump of music to Callahan that a few shifters from their academy were in the back room of the private villa Ellington had rented for the evening. Lucian assured Callahan he would be fine on his own with Ellington with a smile and a nod. 

Callahan pushed his way through the packed parlor in the direction of the back room that Ellington had indicated. He was pleasantly surprised to see that Ellington’s guests were equal parts shifter and vampire. He recognized a few of the shifters from the brunch that morning. No one seemed to consider this as a time to be on duty as the shifters were drinking and making merry with equal enthusiasm to the vampires.

Eventually Callahan made his way to the back room, which he found to be blessedly quieter. He was also pleased to be met with the faces of his friends from the academy. 

Sam, Vanessa, and Lionel were all crowded around a pool table. Lionel watched Vanessa closely as she lined up a shot. Sam stood behind Vanessa with a shit-eating grin on her face, one that indicated to Callahan that she had something devious planned. Vanessa’s face was stony with concentration and her eyes were narrowed to mere, glowing slits.

She drew back her cue. The exact second before the tip made contact, Sam rutted her hips forward against Vanessa’s ass, knocking her completely off balance. Vanessa yelled angrily as the white ball skidded off to the side and fell into a pocket. Lionel snorted as Sam threw back her head and cackled.

Vanessa spun around angrily. “What the hell?” she yelled at Sam. “Who's side are you on?”

“Hey,” Sam chuckled, holding up her hands appeasingly. One hand gripped a red solo cup and Callahan didn’t doubt that that cup had been filled and refilled quite a few times already. “The loser’s gotta do a strip tease.” 

“It doesn’t count as losing if you sabotage one of the contestants,” Vanessa shot back. Her anger had diminished to rueful annoyance by now.

“Gotta agree with Ness on this one,” Callahan said with a chuckle as he moved into the room. He leaned his hip against the pool table and folded his arms.

“Oh, come on, Cal,” Sam said as she wrapped her arms around Vanessa’s waist and tucked her chin on her shoulder. “You can’t tell me you wouldn’t sabotage a bet to get Lucian to strip for you.”

“Ah, but you see, Lucian strips for me regardless of bets,” Callahan said with a wink.

“I would like the record to show,” Lionel said as he lined up his next shot, “that I am in no way participating in this bet in any capacity other than as Vanessa’s opponent.” He snapped his cue forward with practiced precision, easily knocking a striped ball into one of the pockets.

“So if Vanessa wins, she’s simply spared having to do a strip show for you?” Callahan asked of Sam.

“If I win, I should be compensated with a strip show from all of you,” Vanessa grumbled under breath. 

“Ooh, baby girl, you don’t need to win a silly game to get a strip show from me,” Sam practically purred into Vanessa’s ears.

Vanessa flushed a vibrant shade of pink and muttered something under her breath. 

Callahan glanced at Lionel. He’d seen Sam drunk before, but never quite like this. Lionel only shrugged as he lined up his next shot.

In an impressive show of skill, Vanessa somehow managed to come out victorious over Lionel. Sam was beyond disappointed by this outcome and plastered her face against Vanessa’s back and bemoaned her loss of a strip show. 

With Vanessa rather out of commission considering Sam’s arms were twined over her own, Callahan and Lionel took to playing a friendly game with each other with no added stakes.

Just as Callahan readied for a particularly difficult shot, Vanessa interrupted Sam’s whisperings.

“Hey, Lucian,” she said with a grin. 

Callahan pulled back from his shot and looked around. Lucian’s cheeks were flushed and his bright yellow eyes bore into Callahan with hungry intent. Callahan raised his eyebrows as he turned away from the pool table.

“Hey Lu, what—“ 

Lucian threw himself against Callahan. His arms snaked around the shifter’s neck and he yanked himself off the floor. Callahan grunted as Lucian’s hip bones pressed against his own. His face flushed as he was greeted with very clear evidence that Lucian was very, very aroused. 

Lucian rutted his hips against Callahan’s and let out a long, _loud_ moan right into Callahan’s ear.

“Jesus, Lu,” Vanessa snapped, “have some self-restraint.”

Sam must have whispered something inappropriate to Vanessa because she released a choked, embarrassed noise and urged the other shifter to shut the fuck up.

Callahan didn’t notice either woman. A strong shudder had pulsed down his spine at the filthy sound that left Lucian’s lips. He pressed his face instinctively into the crook of Lucian’s neck and breathed him. He smelled so fucking good. Callahan dropped his pool cue to wrap both arms around Lucian’s waist. Lionel released an aggrieved sigh as he lost yet another pool partner.

Lucian whined against Callahan’s chest.

“Lucian, what’s up?” Callahan said with an embarrassed laugh. “Are you drunk?”

“Who knew he was such a horny drunk?” Sam laughed.

“You’re one to talk,” Vanessa shot back.

“Cal,” Lucian finally spoke. His voice was thick and rough with arousal. “Fuck, Cal, please. I need—“ He pushed himself further off the floor and made to wrap his legs around Callahan’s waist.

“Whoa there.” Callahan quickly pressed his hands against Lucian’s hips and pushed him down. “Both feet stay on the floor, alright, baby? We’re in public,” he added with a slight, embarrassed note of desperation.

“Cal,” Lucian whined again as he stood up on his tiptoes. He pressed his crotch down on Callahan’s thigh. “Please, fuck me, please, oh my God.” The words spilled off his lips, entirely too loudly for Callahan’s liking. 

The shifter’s eyes flashed in confused horror between his friends. Vanessa was gaping at Lucian and Lionel’s typical taciturn face had fractured with shock.

“Dude,” Lionel breathed, “is he okay?”

Callahan shook his head as he looked back at Lucian. He pushed the smaller male away and clamped his hands on his shoulders. Lucian whimpered. His head rolled back and he gazed up at Callahan. His eyes were completely glassy; his skin glistened with sweat. The veins around his eyes had burst, creating spiderwebs of red around his eyes. His fangs protruded beneath his upper lip, slick with saliva.

“Holy shit,” Vanessa whispered. “Is he…?”

Callahan groaned and ducked his head in a nod as Lucian’s pheromones rushed over him. Lucian was definitely, without a trace of a doubt, having a heat, which should have been utterly impossible for the vampire to achieve unless Callahan was having one as well. And Callahan was quite certain he was not having a heat. At least, he hadn't been having one before Lucian had entered the room, but now his body was responding in full force to Lucian's excessively active hormones.

Callahan gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. They were about to have a serious problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yall best be ready for some hot af smut   
> also there will be some violence in the next chapter  
> the two best components of a vampire fic all in one chapter!


	31. Chapter Nine

”Callahan.” Lucian’s pleading whimper shot straight to Callahan’s dick and the hormones dripping off him fed the shifter’s own alpha ones.

“Baby,” Callahan said in a tight voice, his hands squeezing Lucian’s shoulders, “I need you to focus. How much did you have to drink?”

Lucian only whined loudly and squirmed in Callahan’s vice like hold. Callahan growled. He released Lucian’s shoulders, grabbed his chin, and yanked him forward a step.

“Lucian,” he snapped, an alpha tone entering his voice, “focus.”

A shudder quaked Lucian’s body. He closed his eyes. His lips parted and he forced out a weak, “I don’t know how much. N-not a lot. I—“

He was cut off by a stunned cry from Vanessa. Callahan’s head whipped around.

“What the fuck, Sam?” Vanessa yelled at the woman who was still draped over her back.

Sam growled as she sunk her teeth deeper into Vanessa’s shoulder. Vanessa whimpered and shook. Her hands clenched the edge of the pool table. She looked up at Callahan. The pair glanced between Lucian and Sam, and their eyes fell simultaneously on the red solo cup in Sam’s hand.

Callahan caught Lucian by the back of the neck and dragged him against his body before crossing to Vanessa in two quick strides. He plucked the cup from Sam’s grip and took a quick sniff.

“It’s laced with something,” he growled. ‘Something’ that had clearly flung both Lucian and Sam into heats.

“I-I can handle her,” Vanessa said, jerking her head back to indicate Sam, who was still kneading her teeth into Vanessa’s shoulder. “Get Lucian out of here.” She glanced over at Lionel. “Could you give us some privacy?” she asked in embarrassment.

Lionel nodded quickly and followed Callahan out of the room as the alpha shifter dragged his heat-ridden bond from the room.

Callahan kept Lucian’s face pressed against his side as he hurried from the room. Lucian’s arms were twined around his waist and he was quaking from head to toe. Callahan needed to get him back to their room before it got too difficult to keep his hands off of Lucian.

He was shoving his way through the crowd when his eyes found the ginning face of the host. Ellington was in between entertaining guests and was weaving his way between the crowd with aimless intent.

“Ellington,” Callahan snarled loudly as he blocked the vampire’s path.

Ellington stopped short and gave Callahan a friendly grin. He hadn’t seemed to have detected the anger emanating from the shifter. Clearly noting Callahan’s annoyance was not his strong suite.

“What the fuck is in this?” Callahan snapped as he thrust Sam’s cup at the vampire.

Ellington jerked back as some of the liquid splashed over the rim of the cup. His tongue darted out and he licked a few droplets off his chin.

“That's what the kids these day call ‘alch’,” he said with a laugh. His eyes flickered to Lucian who was only on his feet thanks to Callahan and he laughed. “Someone had a bit too much, didn’t he?”

Lucian glanced up. He looked absolutely wrecked: flushed cheeks, glassy eyes, protruding fangs. Ellington’s eyes widened.

“Looking a little thirsty there, Luie, in every regard. I should warn you,” he said looking at Callahan, “I gotta pay extra if there’s a mess of—“ he grinned—“any sort of bodily fluid.”

“Ellington,” Callahan growled, “what did you put in this?” He pushed the cup toward Ellington again.

“What do you—“ Ellington cut himself off as his nostrils flared. He glanced down at the cup and his eyes widened. “Yeah, there’s definitely something in else there.”

“And what exactly might that be?” Callahan snarled at him.

“I have no idea I swear,” Ellington said, raising his hands in a placating manner. He had finally caught onto the fact that Callahan was downright furious at him. He shuffled back a small step. “This was a strictly BYOB function.”

“Yeah, well whatever this is it's triggering heats in shifters,” Callahan snapped. “My friend has an alpha a minute away from a full-blown heat to deal with right now and I’m sure she’s not the only one.”

“As much as I wouldn’t mind seeing or partaking in a heat orgy, I’m sure the idea wouldn’t sit well with my moms,” Ellington said. “I’m already on thin ice with them you see. Even just throwing a party like this won’t thrill them.”

A small whine from Lucian interrupted Ellington. Lucian pressed against Callahan more. His fingers gripped Callahan’s shirt.

“You should probably get him out of here,” Ellington said. “When Lucian gets thirsty—well it’s a mess in more way than one.”

“And what about the thirty something shifters about to go into heat?” Callahan demanded. Lucian was his top priority of course, but with this many shifters in one room and at least ten of them alphas, someone was going to get hurt.

Ellington spun on his heel and marched across the room to the far wall. The vampire reached out and yanked the fire alarm without any preamble. The blare of the alarm rang out in the tight confines of the room. Ellington jumped gracefully onto the back of a couch and yelled over the alarm:

“Party’s over, you horndogs, clear out!”

Callahan sighed. That was at least one way to deal with impending disaster. Ellington grinned down at him as he continued to balance on the back of the couch. His guests were non-too-pleased with him. A chorus of boos were directed at him and someone even chucked an empty bottle of vodka at him. Ellington dodged the bottle with ease and it shattered on the wall behind him. Ellington started yelling again, urging the party goers to clear out before security got there.

Callahan pulled Lucian toward the exit. Only a few people were actually heeding the alarm. He and Lucian spilled out with the sparse crowd into the covered walkway that connected the villa to the hotel. Tinted windows protected the vampires from the glaring sunlight.

Despite the shudders that were coursing through him, Lucian was doing a commendable job of keeping on his feet. Pained whimpers were spilling out of him. Callahan scooped the vampire into his arms and hurried into the hotel. None of the staff that saw them would suspect anything other than a drunk vampire.

Callahan reached the elevator and slammed his thumb against the button. A chorus of whines and near sobs were falling off of Lucian’s lips. The elevator doors slid open excruciatingly slowly. Callahan stumbled in and slammed the button for penthouse.

He heard one of the other exiled party goers beseeching for him to hold the elevator but he quickly pushed the doors-close button.

When the metal doors had slid shut and he and Lucian were in relative privacy—relative considering the security cameras—Callahan propped Lucian against the wall and pulled back slightly to get a look at his face.

“Don’t worry, baby,” he murmured. “We’re almost back to our room.”

“Cal,” Lucian sobbed. His eyes were screwed shut. His finger nails dug into Callahan’s shoulders through his thin shirt. “Fuck, please.” A sharp shudder ricocheted up his spine and he convulsed.

“Fuck,” Callahan hissed, pressing his forehead against Lucian’s. “Just hold on a little longer.”

The elevator dinged and Callahan pulled Lucian against his chest once more. He hurried down the hall and pressed his hip against the door scanner. Thankfully the scanner read the key card through his pocket and wallet and the door clicked unlock.

Callahan moved into the room and shoved Lucian against the wall. Lucian whimpered loudly, but Callahan captured the sound in his mouth. Lucian moaned in profound relief as he sagged against the wall. Callahan pulled the vampire’s legs around his waist and pressed against him. Lucian groaned loudly as his pliant tongue pressed against Callahan’s.

“Fuck, Lu,” Callahan whispered as he pulled back from the kiss.

“C-Callahan,” Lucian moaned, “what’s happening?.”

“You're having a heat, baby.” He nipped gently at Lucian’s neck.

“How—why? Are you—?”

“No, there was something the alcohol,” he explained as he continued to leave a trail of love marks over Lucian’s pale skin. “Triggered a heat in you.”

“Please, Cal, f-fuck me now, please?” Lucian begged.

Callahan nodded and yanked him away from the wall. Lucian pressed his face into Callahan’s neck, pressing his lips against his skin but cognizant of his teeth. Callahan carried him into the bedroom and threw him down on the bed.

Lucian whined loudly at the loss of contact. He was panting heavily and his body shook.

Callahan braced his knee against the edge of the bed and stripped off his shirt. Lucian moaned and reached up to him with desperate hands.

“Please, fuck, Cal, I need you inside of me,” he pleaded.

Callahan dropped over him, shoving his shirt up and dragging his teeth over the pale plane of Lucian’s chest. Lucian mewed loudly and his pelvis thrust up against Callahan’s hips.

“Please,” he whimpered over and over again.

“I got you baby,” Callahan murmured against his chest. His teeth teased a trail down to his nipple and he twirled his tongue around his nipple.

Lucian convulsed beneath him and pressed his clothed cock against Callahan’s hip. The vampire was hard as rock and his pants were probably getting more than a little painful for him.

Callahan quickly reached down and undid his pants, shoving them and his briefs over Lucian’s hips. Lucian released a gutted moan as his cock sprang free and pressed against his stomach. Callahan pulled back from Lucian's chest and yanked the vampire's pants and briefs off completely. He dropped over Lucian once and laved his tongue over Lucian's harden nub.

“Oh god,” Lucian whispered as Callahan’s fingers trailed along his inner thigh. “Please, please.”

“I got you, baby,” Callahan assured him again. He pulled back from Lucian and twisted around.

Callahan reached over the bedside table and grabbed Lucian’s lotion off it. He leaned back over Lucian.

“I’m gonna fuck you now.”

Lucian’s eyes, which had been pressed firmly shut, sprang open.

“You’re not—not like—I don’t actually—“ Lucian babbled desperately.

“Sh,” Callahan murmured, pressing a light kiss to Lucian’s forehead. “We won’t having sex during a heat, baby. Promise.”

Lucian breathed a quaking sigh of relief. “I still—I need you…inside.”

“I know, baby.” Callahan kissed his forehead again before sitting back on his heels. He uncapped the lotion and spilled a large amount into the palm of his hand.

He dropped over Lucian once more and sucked hard on his right nipple. Lucian cried out and slammed his hand over his mouth. His body trembled beneath Callahan.

Callahan quickly spread the lotion over his hands. He wrapped a hand gently around Lucian’s throbbing length. Lucian released a muffled moan and rutted into his grip. Callahan thumbed the tip of his cock as his fingers trailed between his legs. He was careful to skirt Lucian’s second hole.

He pressed his forefinger against Lucian’s puckered hole.

“Lu?”

Lucian nodded desperately, gazing up at Callahan with begging eyes. Callahan pressed his finger passed the ring of muscle. Lucian’s back snapped off the bed. A broken whine worked past his hands. He thrust desperately into Callahan’s hand as Callahan pressed his finger in deeper.

When his finger was completely inside of Lucian, he curled it gently. Lucian whined, squeezing his eyes shut. Tears dripped over his cheeks. Callahan pumped his finger in and out as he left a trail of kisses down Lucian’s stomach. His other hand slipped off his length to cup his thigh. Lucian whined in protest. Callahan chuckled quietly and his hot breath brushed Lucian’s cock. Lucian’s body quivered. Callahan dragged his tongue the crown of Lucian's member. Lucian whimpered and twisted beneath him. His chest was flushed and rose and fell heavily with each pant.

“Please, Callahan,” Lucian begged as his hands fell to the bed on either side of his head.

Callahan captured Lucian’s cock in his mouth. Lucian cried out and arced off the bed. His passage tightened around Callahan’s finger. Callahan rubbed his thumb over the soft skin of Lucian’s thigh, urging him to relax. Lucian hands dropped to Callahan’s hair with a shuddering gasp he let his body drop to the bed once more.

Callahan pulled his finger out and slowly worked a second finger in beside it. Lucian shuddered and his fingers tightened in Callahan’s hair. Callahan bobbed his head up and down, running his tongue along the underside of Lucian’s cock. Lucian moaned loudly and rutted up into Callahan’s mouth.

Callahan scissored his fingers in and out of Lucian, reducing him to a whining mess on the bed. Callahan relaxed his throat and took as much of Lucian’s length into him as he could. His nose brushed against Lucian and he breathed in the reek of heat.

“C-Cal,” Lucian panted.

Callahan pulled off of Lucian’s cock with a wet pop. He looked up at the vampire.

“Yes, baby.” His voice was rough and raspy; Lucian flushed a bright red and looked away from him.

Callahan ducked his head and licked gently along the length of Lucian’s cock.

“Can you, please, can you put…” Lucian’s fingers tightened in Callahan’s hair.

“Yes, baby?”

“Your, your thumb in my—can you put it in—“

Callahan nodded as he wrapped his lips around the crown of Lucian’s cock. He adjusted his fingers slightly and pressed his thumb against Lucian’s wet hole. Lucian gasped and whined. His legs jerked up and wrapped around Callahan’s head.

Callahan realized then that they would need to talk about non-verbal safe cues, but the thought was fleeting and Callahan really couldn’t bring himself to mind the prospect of suffocating on Lucian’s cock.

He pressed his thumb into Lucian’s second hole and curled all his fingers. Lucian’s legs tightened and hegasped. Callahan looked up at him. Lucian’s eyes were squeezed shut; tears dripped down his cheeks. The sharp smell of blood reached Callahan’s nose. A bead of the metallic liquid dripped over Lucian’s chin.

Callahan continued to work his fingers and tongue as he reached up with his free hand and pressed his fingers against Lucian’s lips. Lucian opened his mouth with a soft moan and Callahan slipped his fingers inside. He pressed his thumb against Lucian’s jaw. Lucian got the message and bit down hard on Callahan’s fingers. Callahan flinched slightly, but this pain was preferable to Lucian making himself bleed.

On top of that he could now feel Lucian’s every moan vibrating up his fingers.

Callahan pulled his fingers out of Lucian’s holes and pushed them back in. Lucian bit down hard and Callahan’s blood spilled into his mouth. Lucian moaned desperately as the liquid filled his mouth and he quickly lapped at Callahan's fingers with his tongue. Callahan set a brutal pace with his fingers, ignoring the cramp developing in his wrist. He bobbed his head up and down on Lucian’s cock, taking more and more of him in each time.

Lucian’s hips snapped up and the crown of his cock slammed against the back of Callahan’s throat. Callahan curled in his thumb and scissored his fingers. Lucian cried out around Callahan’s fingers. He came hard against the back of Callahan’s throat and his passages convulsed. The walls around Callahan’s thumb tightened and Lucian’s slick dripped out passed Callahan’s thumb.

Callahan careful drew off of Lucian’s cock and swallowed down the bitter cum. He pulled his bloodied fingers free of Lucian’s mouth. Lucian’s legs gave out and dropped onto the mattress. Callahan propped himself up on the mattress. He looked down at the vampire as he carefully withdrew his other hand. Lucian’s hands pressed against his face. He was shaking and sobbing, whimpering moans mixing in with wet pants. Callahan’s hands dropped to his hips as he knelt on the mattress. He pulled Lucian carefully into his lap. His hard-on rubbed against Lucian’s ass, but he focused on Lucian. His thumbs rubbed soothingly into his hip bones. Callahan laid gentle kisses on the backs of Lucian’s hand.

“Baby,” he murmured.

Lucian’s hands slipped off his face and he stared up at Callahan. His eyes glistened with tears. Blood smeared his lips. His fangs had receded and the veins around his eyes had healed. He whined up at Callahan and a listless smile spread over his lips.

Callahan bent forward and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. Lucian’s hands slipped over his cheeks. His fingers lightly pressed against the back of his neck, holding their lips together.

Callahan reached down and worked his cock free of his pants. He moaned with relief in Lucian’s mouth. Lucian licked lazily over Callahan’s lips. One of his hands dropped from Callahan’s neck and his fingers brushed along Callahan’s chest.

“Let me,” he mumbled.

“It’s okay.” Callahan ducked his head and scraped his teeth over Lucian’s teeth.

“But I want—“ Lucian huffed. “I never get you off during a heat.”

“Lucian, believe me, you’re the sole reason I get off during a heat.” Callahan rubbed his hand over the pool of cum on Lucian’s stomach and slid his slicked hand over his cock. He began jerking himself off, the tip of his cock pressing between the curve of Lucian’s cheeks.

Lucian moaned and wrapped his arms around Callahan’s neck. His grip was loose; he was entirely spent. His body felt boneless beneath Callahan. Callahan fucked into his hand. A bead of precome dripped over the tip of his cock. He pressed the crown of his cock against Lucian’s puckered hole. Lucian moaned loudly.

“Cal?” he whispered in confusion.

“I won't," Callahan assured him, "but you're always begging me to come inside of you."

“Oh fuck.”

Callahan pushed against Lucian and continued to jerk himself off. Lucian pressed down and Callahan’s cock threatened to breach the ring of muscle. Lucian whined loudly and his fingers dug into Callahan’s hair. Callahan groaned and bit down hard on Lucian’s shoulder. Lucian cried out and slammed down hard on Callahan’s length. The crown of his cock pressed inside of Lucian’s passage and he came hard.

“Oh my god; oh my god,” Lucian whispered desperately into his ear.

Callahan growled and bit down harder on Lucian’s shoulder as his cock continued to pump cum into the smaller male’s passage. Lucian whimpered and pressed his lips against Callahan’s neck. Callahan could feel his cheeks were wet with tears.

Callahan pulled out slowly with a long moan. He unlatched his teeth from Lucian’s shoulder and pushed back on his elbows.

“Are you okay?” he whispered, his nose brushing Lucian’s. “I’m sorry.”

“God, that was perfect,” Lucian whispered. His hips shifted beneath Callahan and he whined contentedly. “Sh-shit I can’t wait for you to fuck me for real.”

Callahan laughed quietly and nuzzled his face into the crook of Lucian’s neck. He breathed in deeply.

“You’re okay?” he murmured. “You liked all that?”

“Yeah,” Lucian whispered. “Yeah that was all so, so good.” His arms tightened slightly around Callahan’s neck. “What exactly…what happened? I mean I know what happened just now, but like, a heat?”

Callahan rolled onto his side and pulled Lucian against. Lucian squirmed around so his back was flush to Callahan’s chest. His ass rubbed against Callahan’s hip and Callahan could feel his cum dripping out of Lucian. He groaned loudly against the nape of his neck.

“The drinks were spiked at Ellington’s party,” Callahan explained. “Sam started to have one too. I guess because of our bond whatever that drug was it could trigger a heat in you too.”

Lucian hummed quietly. He twisted around in Callahan’s arms and nestled his head beneath his chin.

“Once you’re feeling up to it, you should shower,” Callahan said, “and clean the cum out.”

“Sleeping,” Lucian muttered against his chest.

“I can wake you up in a bit to shower.”

“Wake me up and I’ll kill you.”

Callahan laughed quietly and pressed a kiss against Lucian’s hair. He stayed like that for a long time, just listening to Lucian’s soft breathing. Eventually, he pulled back and slipped out of Lucian’s arms. Lucian curled in on himself and whined quietly.

Callahan picked him and situated him on the pillows. He tugged the blankets out from under him, but didn’t tuck him in yet. He collected a wet wash cloth from the bathroom and cleaned him up. Lucian didn’t stir even when Callahan oh-so carefully scooped his cum out of his ass.

Callahan tucked the blankets around Lucian and went to the bathroom to take a quick shower. He didn’t want to leave Lucian’s side for too long for fear that Lucian might have a heat drop again. When he finished his shower, he flicked off the overhead lights in Lucian’s bedroom and climbed into bed with him.

* * *

The next morning found me sore as fuck and with pounding headache. And yet for whatever reason, I was up and about only a few hours after the sun had set. Callahan wanted a gym partner and I, still aching to be around him after coming down from the heat, had agreed to go with him. I clung to his arm during every part of the trip to the gym where we were alone. Callahan seemed to enjoy my clingy behavior, chuckling whenever I rubbed my face against his arm and laying kisses on my head at odd intervals.

I asked after Vanessa and Sam while we walked down the hallway toward the gym's glass door and Callahan reported that he'd gotten text from Vanessa that morning saying all was well. She didn’t give any details of what had gone down between her and Sam, but even if she had I had the feeling Callahan wouldn’t have shared those with me.

Luckily for me and my body’s craving to touch Callahan as much as possible, the gym was entirely empty when we arrived. I hung onto Callahan whenever I wouldn’t be inconveniencing his work out. He indulged me to the utmost and seemed to enjoy my needy behavior thoroughly. He tried to get me to do his workouts with him, but I wasn’t one for weight training. I was naturally plenty strong and didn’t like the thought of bulking up. That being said I didn’t at all mind this prospect where Callahan was concerned. I blatantly stared at Callahan’s rippling muscles as he went through his exercises.

“You’re drooling, baby,” Callahan said with a wolfish grin as he did a bicep curl with the hundred pound dumb bell.

I licked my lips self-consciously and flushed, but didn’t tear my gaze away.

I finally had to put my title as Callahan’s gym partner to good use when he needed me to spot him bench pressing.

“If I can’t rack it myself, just hold the bar in place for me to get out from under,” Callahan said as he added the fourth twenty-five pound plate to the bar.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you get crushed,” I said as I grinned up him from where I was leaning on my elbows on the bar.

“Thanks, baby,” Callahan said as he dropped onto the bench. He slid under the bar.

I pulled back and helped guide the bar off of the rack. I was very much enjoying staring down Callahan as he pumped the bar up and down effortlessly.

I loaded more weight onto the bar at Callahan’s behest and continued to watch him work with intent interest. When the weight on the bar reached a total of five hundred and thirty-five pounds, Callahan started to falter slightly. As he pushed the bar slowly away from his body, his arms began to tremble. I reached out to help, but Callahan grunted and shook his head.

He shoved the bar up with a massive show of strength and slammed it into the rack.

“Fuck,” he panted, his arms dropping boneless to his sides. “That was five over my old max.”

“Seriously? Nice job.” I grinned at him. I tipped over the bar, my feet swinging over the floor and pressing a quick kiss to his lips.

Callahan smiled into the kiss.

“Want me to add more?” I asked, hovering over him.

“That might be pushing it,” Callahan said with a small frown.

“Doesn’t hurt to try. Unless you drop it and shatter your sternum.”

“But that’s what I have you here for,” Callahan said. “Add two-point-fives to each side; let’s see what I can manage.”

I nodded eagerly and added the plates. Callahan sat up and stretched gently. He hung out on the bench for a few minutes, letting his body rest. Once his body was ready to go again, he dropped back onto the bench. He caught hold of the bar and pulled himself beneath it. Once situated, he wrapped his hands around the bar. He glanced up at me and nodded.

I once again helped guide the bar off the rack. This time I didn’t step back, instead opting to continue hovering over him. Callahan locked his arms straight above himself and stared at the bar.

“You got this,” I said with a reassuring grin.

Callahan nodded. He shifted his hips slightly on the bench, pressed his feet into the floor, and unlocked his arms. He let the bar descend slowly to his chest. When it was only an inch away from his chest, he paused, drew in a breath, and pushed it up again.

He got in two solid reps before he had any issue. Suddenly the ascent on the third rep ground to a halt. Callahan grunted. His arms shook, but despite his effort, he just couldn’t push the bar any higher. He shook his head.

“Lu,” he hissed.

I clamped my hand around the bar and yanked it up, slamming it into the rack.

Callahan gaped up at me. His hands hung loosely around the bar. A grin split my face.

“Did you just,” he breathed. “Did you just do a bicep curl with five hundred and forty pounds?”

“You see now what I meant when I said I don't need weight training."

Callahan dropped his hands from the bar and sat up slowly, his neck bent back so he could stare up at me.

“Fuck, that’s hot,” he whispered.

I laughed quietly. I stood up on my tip toes and slid my hands over his exposed neck. Callahan shuddered slightly. I leaned down and brushed my lips against his.

“What’s up next, big boy?” I whispered against Callahan’s next.

“Cardio,” he murmured.

“Fucking’s cardio.”

The gym door clattered open and a chorus of voices interrupted us. I pulled back quickly from Callahan and glowered over to the door. The two shifters who had entered didn’t realize they had interrupted something very, very important.

Callahan cleared his throat. He dropped his elbows onto his knees and bent forward to hide his arousal. I chuckled quietly and walked out from behind the rack.

“Looks like I won’t be joining you for cardio this time,” I said as I ran my fingers over the back of Callahan’s neck. “I’ll catch you later.”

Callahan stood up quickly, rubbing the back of his neck. He turned slightly away from me, but I still caught sight of the flush that had spilled over his cheeks.  I laughed quietly and started to turn around. Callahan reached out quickly and caught my wrist. He pulled me back against his chest and curled around me. His erection pressed against me and he rocked his hips forward slightly. He pressed a strong kiss against my lips. He pulled back.

“See you later,” he murmured.

It was my turn to blush. My eyes flickered quickly to the other gym occupants, but they were on the treadmills with their backs to us. Callahan grinned down at me before moving away and heading towards the treadmills as well.

I left the gym with a light spring in my step. I had thoroughly enjoyed myself in the last twelve hours. Sure, at the beginning of the heat, I had been in borderline cripplingly pain, but consummating said heat had been a Good Time™. And then watching Callahan work out and riling him up like that got me contemplating going back to the room to rub one out. I’d packed a few toys in my suitcase; maybe I could go have some fun with one—and call Callahan during that time to see how quickly he could get from the gym to our room.

Thoroughly enjoying the sound of this plan, I quickened my pace as I rounded the corner. I slowed to a halt as my eyes fell on a figure slumped against the wall. I recognized the thatch of brown hair and quickly started forward again.

“Hey, Elly, you okay?”

Ellington’s heads snapped back and I froze.

Blood red eyes gazed at me from an unnaturally pale face. Blood and saliva dripped over Ellington’s chin. His lips drew back, revealing long, hooked fangs. A vicious growl rumbled in his chest.

“Elly, what,” I whispered.

Ellington surged forward in a flash of speed. I cried out and stumbled backwards. Ellington’s claw like hands bit into my arms and he slammed me into the wall. I choked as my breath fled my body. I sagged against the wall. Pain shot up my arms as Ellington’s fingernails pierced my skin. The scent of my blood filled the air; Ellington _moaned_.

I yanked my arms free of his vice and slammed the palm of my hand against his chest. Ellington grunted and took a short step back. He snarled viciously, blood spitting through the air. His hand lanced out and caught the front of my shirt. He lifted me off my feet and slammed me back down into the ground.

I lashed out and my elbow knocked into the side of his head. Ellington jerked back. I quickly crawled backward, kicking my feet against his legs to propel myself away from him. Panic was practically choking my. My vision blurred as frightened tears filled my eyes. How, how the hell had this happened? How could he possibly have gone into a frenzy?

Ellington’s hands snaked forward and latched onto my shins. He yanked me toward him and his right hand twisted viciously to the side. My shin snapped in half like a dead twig.

I screamed.

My vision went white with pain. Ellington yanked me toward him. My ass slammed flush with his hips. He released my legs and his fingers coiled around my wrists, pinning them to floor.

When my vision cleared, Ellington’s face swam above me. His mouth split open obscenely wide. I whimpered and shook my head desperately. Ellington reared back and slammed forward. His teeth split the skin of my neck. Blood splattered over his face and my neck.

This time I didn’t scream. My eyes rolled back in my skull and everything went black.


	32. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: blood, body horror

Blood and pain greeted me as I crawled back to consciousness. A long sob ripped out of my throat as a deep ache coursed up my neck. I jerked off the floor and my hips collided with Elly’s. 

Ellington groaned against my neck and pressed his crotch down. I whimpered as the long rod of his arousal pressed against me. My stomach clenched with nausea. It wasn’t uncommon for vampires to get hard during a feeding, and that was exactly what Ellington was doing: utterly and completely draining me dry.

I sobbed again as Elly sucked harder. My head swam as more blood left me. My blood. The most powerful weapon I had in my arsenal and I was doing nothing to stop a blood-frenzied vampire from getting a hold of it.

I whimpered and blinked my eyes open. Tears blurred my vision and sickening pain darkened the edges. The last thing I needed right now was to pass out again. If I did, Elly would drain me completely, and then he’d be able to kill everyone in the building.

I gritted my teeth. My blood hardened around Elly’s maw. He grunted in confusion at the new, crystalized form my blood took on. I exhaled carefully, and shot needles of blood into Ellington’s mouth.

The blood-frenzied vampire howl. He ripped back from my neck, rending a large chunk of flesh from my body. The blood needles snapped and dissipated into liquid. I jerked up onto my elbow and pressed my hand against the gaping wound in my neck. 

Before I could harden my blood, Ellington shot forward with blinding speed. One hand slammed down hard my wrist. The sound of bones breaking filled the air and I cried out, a sound that was cut off by a horrified choking noise as Ellington’s other hand closed around my throat. He squeezed with single minded ferocity. My vision swam. My lungs burned as I tried to choke down oxygen to no avail. I mewed and squirmed beneath Ellington. His grip tightened around my neck, his thumb grinding into the edge of the gaping wound he’d left. I sobbed as pain lanced through me. Darkness threatened my vision. 

“Elly, please,” I rasped with the last of my breath.

Ellington bore all his weight down on me. I screamed soundlessly, completely deprived of air. I ripped my hand away from my neck. A spear of solidified blood arced through the air and punctured Ellington’s throat. I flexed the blood shaft and it exploded in a halo of razor sharp needles.

Ellington’s body went slack. He sagged above me. His head lolled forward. The sickening sound of tearing flesh reached my ears and I almost vomited. The few strands of flesh still attaching Elly’s head to his neck tore and his head toppled onto my chest. Blood geysered out the stump of his neck, drenching my face and upper body, filling my vision and drowning me.

* * *

A shadow of pain shot up Callahan’s spine. He gasped, hopping to the edge of the treadmill and doubling over. He recognized all too well the ghost of Lucian’s pain when it shot through the bond to him. Somewhere, somehow Lucian was in pain.

Callahan growled. He twisted around and lunged off the treadmill. He ran across the gym and slammed the door open. Small spiderweb cracks radiated from the point where Callahan’s shoulder had collided with the glass, but Callahan took no notice.

He raced down the hall, the bond leading him to Lucian. Another wave of pain rolled over Callahan and he stumbled into the wall. Nausea coursed through him and his vision blurred. Lucian wasn’t just in pain; he was in agony.

Callahan pushed off the wall and tripped forward a few feet. When Lucian’s pain ebbed, Callahan straightened and took off at a sprint.

A few twists of hall later and Callahan could smell him. Lucian’s blood filled the air, sickening and suffocating, and there was so, so much of it. Along with the scent, the clamor of terrified voices filled the air. 

“Show us your eyes!” one of the voices screamed above the rest.

Callahan rounded the corner and was met by a ring of shifters. They all had weapons drawn, and not the tranquilizer guns used on shifters. No, the guns they had aimed in trembling hands carried bullets laced with molten silver. Callahan was tall enough to see over the heads of the shifters that their weapons were trained on a huddled form of the floor.

Lucian was curled in on himself, his face hidden from view. He was trembling and covered in blood. Not just a splattering, Lucian was utterly and completely _drenched_. And with good reason. Callahan’s eyes skittered away from his mark’s huddled form to what lay beside him. A headless body was twisted at Lucian’s feet. A coagulated pool of blood lay beneath the body’s stump of a neck. 

The shifters were still screaming down at Lucian. Fingers curled over triggers. Over their shouts, Callahan heard the faintest sound of sobbing.

Callahan shoved through the ring of shifters. The security guards cried out in confusion and trained their sights on him, but he ignored them. Callahan knelt beside Lucian. He’d smelled Lucian in a blood frenzy before, and he knew in at least that regard Lucian was okay.

“Sh, baby,” Callahan murmured as he scooped Lucian into his arms. “I’m here, baby; I got you.”

Lucian sobbed and curled tighter around—Callahan’s breath caught in his throat. Lucian was clutching Ellington’s head to his chest. The vampire’s face was relaxed in death, his mouth hung open slightly. Blood marred his teeth and Callahan could see bits of flesh stuck between his teeth.

“I got you, Lu,” Callahan repeated. “Let me…” He carefully lifted Ellington’s head out of Lucian’s arms.

Lucian sobbed and shook his head desperately. Callahan pressed his lips to Lucian’s forehead, tasting blood. He placed Ellington’s head carefully down beside his body. 

“Y-you should step back,” one of the security guards behind Callahan stuttered.

Callahan’s head snapped around and he let out a long, feral snarl. As one, the half dozen guards stepped back.

“You lot do your fucking job and get this cleaned up. And someone had better have a very good explanation for how the fuck this happened.” Callahan stood up with Lucian still cradled against his chest.

Lucian sobbed weakly and wound his arms around Callahan’s neck. Callahan held him close as he set a brisk pace through the corridors. He stuck to the back halls of the resort, the ones generally reserved for staff. All the same, they stumbled across a few people. Lucian’s blood doused state caused quite a stir, but luckily those they crossed paths with had the good sense and sufficient self-preservation not to stop them.

They reached the staff elevator a few minutes later, and it only took a few more minutes to reach their floor. Callahan spent the entire trip murmuring quiet reassurances to Lucian. Lucian’s sobs steadily grew weaker and he relaxed against Callahan's chest.

They finally entered their room and Callahan took Lucian straight to the bathroom. He set Lucian carefully down on the pearly white tiles of the shower.

“I’m going to turn the water on, baby,” Callahan said.

Lucian pressed his face to Callahan’s chest. He didn’t speak. He hadn’t this entire time. Callahan twisted the faucet on. Ice cold water gushed down on them. Lucian hardly noticed, though his body began to shudder from the cold. Thankfully the water temperature and soon a deluge of warm water was pulsing down on them. 

Blood poured off Lucian, staining the water pink. Callahan carefully washed Lucian’s face and hair. When his hands wandered to Lucian’s neck, Lucian hissed in pain. Enough blood was gone by now that Callahan could clearly see the gruesome, puckered wound that marred Lucian’s neck. Thankfully the bleeding had ceased, which could easily be confirmed by the fact that the water pouring around them onto the tiles was almost entirely clear now. Lucian’s shirt was still soaked in blood, but his face and arms were clean now. One of his arms was twisted at an unnatural angle and when Callahan took stock of Lucian’s form with a quick glance up and down his body, he noted that Lucian’s left leg was also bent horribly off kilter.

Callahan peeled Lucian’s shirt slowly off his body. Some of the fabric was caught in the gore around Lucian’s neck wound and he had to rip it free, causing a sharp sob to rise in Lucian’s chest.

“I’m sorry, baby,” Callahan whispered as he kissed Lucian’s forehead lightly.

He slipped Lucian’s track pants off. Lucian sobbed again as his broken leg was shifted and Callahan’s blood ran cold. Gritting his teeth, he tossed them aside along with the shirt. 

The water continued ceaselessly pouring down on them as Callahan carefully cleaned around the bite mark in Lucian’s neck. When at long last, the water around them ran completely clean, Callahan shut off the faucet and lifted Lucian into his arms. 

“Lucian, how are you feeling?” he murmured as he carried Lucian into the bedroom. “Can you talk to me, please, baby?”

Lucian only whimpered quietly and hid his face in Callahan’s chest. Callahan laid him down on the mattress. Callahan stared down at him. Lucian’s face was twisted in pain and his eyes were screwed shut.

Callahan slid his arms out from under him and ran his fingers down Lucian’s arm. Lucian’s breath caught and his body stiffened in pain.

“I have to reset your bones,” Callahan said in a thick voice. “I’m sorry.” He rested his forehead against Lucian’s. His hands gently encompassing Lucian’s forearm.

Callahan twisted his hands sharply. Lucian cried out and arched off the bed. Callahan ran his hands over Lucian’s arm as he murmured hurried assurances and apologies. Thankfully, Lucian’s bones were aligned once again.

“I have to fix your leg now,” Callahan said. He sat back and lifted Lucian’s leg into his lap.

Lucian squirmed beneath him and shook his head. His arms came up to cover his face and a weak sob left his lips. Callahan released a broken sigh as his fingers drifted over Lucian’s shin. His body had already healed, with the bone its vicious, unnatural angle.

“I have to break it and reset it, Lu,” Callahan said quietly.

Lucian whined loudly and his arms pressed tighter around his head. Callahan gritted his teeth. He closed his eyes and framed his hands around Lucian’s shin. He took a quick breath and snapped Lucian’s leg.

Lucian’s mouth fell open in a silent scream and he arced off the bed. Callahan’s hands clamped around Lucian’s legs, splinting the bone in place. Lucian sobbed and writhed on the bed.

“Lucian, stop, this is going to hurt more if you keep moving,” Callahan pleaded.

Lucian whimpered, but his body stilled, save for the occasionally shudder than ran through him. His teeth bit into his lower lip and blood pooled. Callahan closed his eyes and hunkered over Lucian’s body. Several minutes passed while Callahan waited for the bone to knit itself back together.

But when he lifted his hands away, he found Lucian’s shin mottled with bruising and the bone still misalligned .

“Fuck,” Callahan whispered as he glanced up to the gouge in Lucian’s neck.

Lucian had lost to much blood; he couldn’t heal himself anymore than he already had. Callahan slid out from under Lucian. Lucian whined and reached out blindly for him. 

“I just need something to splint your leg, baby,” Callahan explained quickly. “You aren’t healing right now, and I don’t want your leg to heal wrong when you finally do.” Callahan quickly stood from the bed. He moved to the bedside table and set the lamp off of it on the floor. With two quick strokes, Callahan snapped off two of the bedside table’s legs. He returned to the bed. When the mattress dipped with his weight, Lucian released a shuddering sigh of relief. Callahan was realizing now that between the blood loss and the excruciating pain, Lucian was barely conscious, which explained his lack of verbal response. Callahan could only pray he wouldn’t remember this torturous agony at Callahan’s hands.

Callahan tore of his shirt off and ripped it quickly into strips. He set the table legs on either side of Lucian’s leg and quickly tied them into place. With the makeshift brace in place, Callahan lifted Lucian into his lap. Lucian’s arms fell weakly to his sides and his head lolled against Callahan’s chest.

“I need you to drink from me, baby,” Callahan murmured, pressing his wrist to Lucian’s lips.

Lucian’s mouth parted ever so slightly. His lips pressed to Callahan’s skin, but that was the most he could manage. Callahan cursed quietly. He brought his wrist to his own mouth. Steeling himself, Callahan bit into his flesh harshly. Blood splattered across his face. Lucian moaned as the scent filled the air.

Callahan brought his wrist to Lucian’s mouth once more and watched as his blood slipped over his wrist and dripped into Lucian’s waiting mouth. 

Lucian moaned and his tongue darted out to lap at Callahan’s wrist. His hands reached up weakly and clasped Callahan’s arm. He pressed his mouth to Callahan’s wrist. After a few, agonizing minutes, Lucian finally worked up the strength to bite into Callahan’s.

Callahan sighed in relief as Lucian began sucking in long gouts of blood. Tears of relief leaked out of the vampire’s eyes and his cheeks flushed with color. When Callahan started to feel light headed from the blood loss, he dislodged his wrist from Lucian’s teeth.

Lucian whined quietly. His eyes blinked open and Callahan caught sight of slits of yellow.

“Lucian,” he breathed in relief.

Lucian’s eyes drifted open completely and he glanced up at Callahan. Yellow orbs swam with tears as Lucian gazed up at him. Lucian’s lip quivered.

“C-Cal,” he whispered.

“Hi, baby.” Callahan pressed his forehead to Lucian. “I got you; you’re safe now.”

“Elly, Ellington—“ Lucian released a long sob and curled into Callahan’s chest. “He—he’s—I—“

“I know, baby,” Callahan murmured. “What, what happened?”

“He was in a blood frenzy. He just attacked me, and I-I…”

“It’s okay, Lu.”

“It’s not okay,” Lucian sobbed, his fingers tightening in Callahan’s shirt. “I killed him; I killed Ellington. He’s dead and I killed him and—“

Callahan tipped back Lucian’s chin and swooped in, pressing a hard kiss against Lucian’s. Lucian sighed into the kiss. Callahan could taste his own blood, but he didn’t care. He worked his lips gently against Lucian’s until the tension had left the vampire’s body and he slumped against Callahan chest.

“There was nothing you could have done Lucian,” Callahan said as he pulled back. “Once a vampire goes into a frenzy…that’s it…there’s nothing that can be done.” Unless you were Lucian, who could somehow drag himself out of a frenzy.

Lucian stifled a sob and rubbed his face against Callahan’s chest.

“You need to rest,” Callahan said as he lifted Lucian gently off the bed. “The sheets are soaked; let me take you to my room.”

Lucian nodded. Callahan carried him into his room. He set Lucian down on the edge of the bed. He fetched a towel and dried him gently, cognizant of his many injuries. He left the bite wound uncovered to let it breath, and it was already healing nicely now that Lucian had fed. 

Callahan knelt in front of the bed and carefully undid the splint. Lucian winced slightly.

“It’s all healed now,” Callahan said, leaning forward and kissing Lucian’s shin. “Just a bit bruised. I’m sorry I hurt you.”

Lucian reached out and caressed Callahan’s cheek. Neither spoke for a long moment. Finally, Callahan helped Lucian under the covers. With a blush, Lucian slipped his wet underwear off. Callahan kissed his temple as he took the sodden garment from him.

“Get some rest,” he murmured.

Lucian nodded and curled into the pillows. His eyes drifted shut. Callahan sat on the edge of the bed and waited under Lucian was sound asleep before moving away from him.

He stripped out of his wet clothes and changed into heavy sweats and a sweatshirt. He went to the bathroom to clean his face of his blood. His wrist was already starting to heal, but all the same he wrapped it tightly with a bandage. He returned to the bed and sat down on the edge of the mattress. He reached out and rested his hand on Lucian’s hip. He dropped his head into his other hand and sighed quietly.

This never should have happened; he never should have let Lucian leave the gym alone. It was his fault Lucian had suffered so much. Callahan should have been there to protect here, and he should have been the one to kill Ellington; Lucian shouldn’t have to live with such a thing.

The sharp buzz of his phone disrupted his thoughts. Callahan dug his phone out of his pocket and found a text from Morgan:

_Skype. Now._

Callahan’s stomach plummeted. He hadn’t expected word of the attack to reach the academy so quickly, but he should have; a vampire going into a blood frenzy and almost murdering another vampire was the sort of news that traveled quickly. Callahan couldn’t imagine Morgan wanted to talk for any other reason than to chew him out for leaving Lucian vulnerable. Callahan hadn’t even been Lucian’s guardian in the public eye for a week and already his charge had almost been killed.

Callahan left Lucian’s side, fetching his laptop from his bag, and moved into the living room. He sat down on the couch and flipped his computer open. It took only a few minutes to boot up Skype and call the academy’s top shifter. Callahan tapped his foot idly as he waited for Morgan to answer. For someone who had requested his virtual presence ‘now’ she certainly was taking her sweet time to pick up. 

When the call finally connected, Callahan was greeted by Morgan’s torso as she hurried to set up the laptop. 

“—got him on Skype now, Eve,” Morgan was setting as she sat down heavily in a seat. The wall behind her Callahan recognized as the one situated behind the headmistress’s desk. “Callahan,” Morgan said with a heavy sigh as she ran a hand through her hair. “How’s Lucian?” 

“He’s—“ Callahan glanced toward the bedroom door and his jaw clenched — “been better,” he muttered. “He just needs some time to heal. It was…bad.”

“So we heard,” Eve Pryer’s voice filtered to him from somewhere behind Morgan’s computer. The headmistress swept behind the desk and perched on the arm of her chair, resting a slender hand on Morgan’s shoulder to balance herself. “The resort is trying their best to keep word from spreading, but unfortunately for them Morgan’s cousin is the head of security there.”

“And I’ll have his head for the lax security he had in place,” Morgan growled, her hands tightening into fists.

“It’s not his fault the resort didn’t take the threat seriously,” the headmistress said.

“What threat?” Callahan asked in confusion, glancing between the pair of women.

“This isn’t the first instance of a vampire going into a blood frenzy for no apparent reason,” Morgan explained. “In fact it’s the fourth time in the last week.”

“The instances have been scattered across the country, so hardly anyone is taking any real precautions,” the headmistress said. 

“What happened to Ellington’s guardian?” Callahan asked quietly.

“They were found exsanguinated in their room,” Morgan said. 

“Ellington’s frenzy is being chalked up to having fed too much on his shifter,” the headmistress added.

“No.”

The soft voice had Callahan’s head snapping back. His eyes widened as he took in the sight of Lucian leaning heavily against the doorframe. He was shrouded in a fluffy white bathrobe that fell off his shoulders, revealing the wound on his neck. He pushed away from the door and moved slowly across the room, heavily favoring his left leg, which was still mottled with bruises.

“Lu,” Callahan breathed as he quickly got to his feet, “you should be in bed.” He reached out his hands for his vampire.

Lucian stumbled into his arms and Callahan guided him down onto the couch. Lucian sagged against him. His face was unnaturally pale and his breathing shallow. He might have fed off Callahan a substantial amount, but his body still had an abundance of healing to do.

“What do you mean, Lucian?” Eve Pryer said gently. Her face maintained its typical mask of indifference, but Morgan was blatantly gaping at the vicious wound in Lucian’s neck. Eve pinched her shifter lightly and Morgan quickly schooled her face to blankness.

“Ellington never fed on Daze,” Lucian explained. “He had a private feeder. If he fed on Daze, it was after the frenzy had already started.”

Morgan dragged her hand over her face and the headmistress closed her eye, steeling herself against this information.

“So this is yet another instance of an unexplained frenzy,” Morgan said in a tight voice.

Lucian shifted against Callahan’s side. His fingers dug into Callahan’s thigh, and Callahan felt his body tremble with a stifled whimper. Callahan’s hand reached out automatically and he cupped the back of Lucian’s neck. Lucian sighed against him.

“Lucian,” the headmistress said gently, “have you fed enough? Do you a feeder to be sent up to you?”

Lucian’s face flushed, though the blush was weaker than his typical ones. Callahan cleared his throat awkwardly and glanced away from the computer.

“I, um, I’m okay,” Lucian mumbled. He glanced up at Callahan. 

“It was an emergency,” Callahan explained in a tight voice. 

“You did good, Cal,” Morgan said shortly. 

Callahan gritted his teeth and shook his head ever so slightly. If he’d ‘done good’, Lucian would have never been left on his own like that.

“The security in the hotel shouldn’t have allowed a blood-frenzied vampire to get that far without putting him down,” Morgan addressed Callahan’s unspoken concern.

Lucian stiffened against Callahan’s side. A quiet sob broke through his parted lips. He twisted against Callahan and pressed his face into his chest.

“Morgan,” Eve Pryer hissed admonishingly.

“Sorry,” the guardian mumbled. 

Lucian whimpered quietly and Callahan could feel his tears dampening in chest. Uncaring of their audience, Callahan lifted Lucian into his lap and cradled him close. Lucian absolutely should not have had to deal with Ellington; the hotel security should have subdued the vampire before he reached any of the guests.

“Who else knows about the blood frenzy…situation?” Callahan asked.

“We’re going to debrief all of the academy’s shifters,” Morgan said. “Security at the hotel is finally going to be beefed up.”

“Despite the increase in hotel security, we are going to ask our shifters to always remain with their vampires from now on,” Eve Pryer said. 

“Of course,” Callahan said, his arms tightening reflexively around Lucian. The last thing he was going to do after this incident was let Lucian out of his sight for more than a minute.

“You should get him back in bed,” the headmistress said with a fond glance at Lucian. “He needs to rest more.”

Callahan nodded.

“If there are anymore developments, we’ll let you know,” Morgan said.

“Thank you.”

Morgan ended the call, and Callahan stood up carefully. Lucian was still crying quietly against his chest. Callahan carried him back into the bedroom. He made to lay Lucian onto the mattress, but Lucian refused to release him. He mumbled something incomprehensible against Callahan’s chest, but Callahan got the message.

“I’ll stay, baby,” he said as he lay down on the mattress with Lucian curled against his chest. “I’m not going anywhere.” 

Lucian sighed quietly and relaxed into Callahan’s hold. Soon he feel asleep once more. Callahan lay awake, listening to the soft pitter patter of his heartbeat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soft callu for the soul  
> also sorry elly i love you


	33. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is actually horribly written im so sorry i suck

A soft knock on the open door made me look up. Callahan stood in the doorway with a half smile on his lips. I sat up slightly. I was curled up in the massive master bed around my laptop. I reached out smacked the spacebar to pause the Netflix show I had been mindlessly staring.

“Hey,” Callahan said. “Vanessa, Sam, and Lionel are coming up to play some cards. Wanna join?” 

“Not really,” I mumbled as I flopped back down on the pillows.

“Okay,” Callahan said slightly hesitantly. “You can, you can join us later if you want.”

I nodded robotically as I reached out and restarted the show. Callahan frowned slightly, but he pulled back from the doorway and moved into the living room. 

It had been three nights since the incident with Ellington and I hadn’t left my bed since. I didn’t blame Callahan for the worried look he had shot my way before going back into the living room. I had barely talked to him at all, and I hadn’t eaten anything despite his bringing me trays upon trays of room service at the appropriate dining hours. 

He hadn’t slept in the same bed as me either since that first night. I was grateful for the space, and he recognized that that was exactly what I needed right now: space. 

Even with the space and the copious time lying awake in bed staring at nothing and processing none of the shows I had on, I hadn’t come to terms with what had happened. With what I had done. 

I spared no thought for the admittedly horrifying and unnerving news that vampires were going into blood frenzies with no rhyme or reason. I didn’t care about that. No, what consumed my mind was the fact that I had killed Ellington—murdered him—decapitated him and clung to his severed head.

My throat tightened and I blinked furiously to keep down the tears. I had already cried enough as it was.

The sound of the penthouse door opening pulled my attention away from inner turmoil. I heard the shifters’ voices merging together as they greeted each other amicably. I heard Callahan murmur my name, but didn’t catch what else he said. I reached out and slammed my finger down repeatedly on the volume button to drown out their voices. 

Another knock at the door made me glance up. I was ready to send Callahan snippy response to his second attempt to trying to get me to join the shifters, but instead I found Sam in the doorway.

“‘Sup,” she said. She stepped inside and shut the door behind her.

I sighed quietly as she crossed the room and dropped onto the edge of the bed. I paused the show once more.

“How are you doing?” Sam asked quietly. Her eyes rested on the laptop between us.

I shrugged. “Are you here to tell me that there was nothing I could have done? That I didn’t have a choice?” I asked as I sat up slowly. 

“No,” Sam said. “That never helps. You’re still going to feel impossibly guilty, and you’re going to feel that way for a long time.”

“How do you know?” I mumbled.

“When, when I was eight,” Sam began slowly, “my twin brother went rabid. We were the only ones home, so I was the only one there to put him down, and I did because there was nothing else I could have done. I know that but that didn’t change the fact that I killed my twin brother.”

“How did you, like, get over it?” I asked carefully. I knew Sam wouldn’t want to hear the automatic response of ‘oh I’m so sorry.’ What she’d done had happened so long ago she’d come to terms with it, just like I had with so much that had happened to me, just like Callahan had with seeing his mother raped and beat to death.

“I don’t know if I got over it so much as I just let it become a part of me. I didn’t push it away; I just accepted it. It took a lot of time, and at first I isolated myself from everyone, but what helped the most was being around people who loved and cared about me. Being alone didn’t help me.”

I nodded slowly. 

Sam offered me a small smile. Her hand twitched slightly in my direction, but she laced her fingers together quickly. With Callahan in the next room, she wasn’t going to risk touching me. I rolled my eyes and she laughed quietly.

“If you want to join us at cards, we’d love to have you,” she said, standing up from the bed.

I nodded again and Sam left the room. I lay back down slowly on the pillows and stared blankly at the computer. It meant a lot to me that Sam had said all that. Having someone else know and understand this gut wrenching guilt helped make me feel less scared of it.

Twenty minutes later I crawled out of bed, changed into a fresh pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt, and left the room. The shifters looked up from the hands of cards when I entered the room. Sam grinned playfully at me and gave me a wink. Vanessa and Lionel cast sympathetic glances my way, but looked back at their cards to hide this fact.

Callahan gazed at me in relief when he saw me functioning for the first time in three nights. I crossed the room to the couch where he sat. He straightened and let me slide onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around my waist and showed me his hand.

“We’re playing BS,” he explained. “We can deal you in next round.”

I took a small breath. “Okay, sure,” I said. I leaned my head back against his shoulder and the game continued.

The game ended up being incredibly entertaining. It turned out Callahan was utterly and comically incapable of fibbing about what cards he was playing to the point where he needn’t even bother playing cards since everyone knew he didn't have the right ones. His eyebrows would crinkle in the most adorable fashion as he realized he didn’t have any cards to play.

Vanessa and Sam ended up playing out a bet; winner would give the loser a lap dance. Apparently this was reminiscent of the other day when Vanessa and Lionel had been playing pool against each other at Elly’s party. The reminder of the pool room had made me flush uncontrollably and bury my face in my hands, a fact that the shifters didn’t miss or ignore. Apparently I had put on quite the show in my drunken, heat-ridden state, proportionately asking Callahan to fuck me right then in there in front of the other shifters. The shifters were good-natured in their teasing, as they were in all things I didn’t feel all that uncomfortable over my actions, mostly embarrassed. Vanessa and Sam had been told by Callahan and me respectively about the mark, but I had a feeling Lionel had sussed out this fact himself. He didn’t seem at all bothered by the fact that I was Callahan’s mark.

Sam won the bet, much to Vanessa's annoyance.

After several rounds, no one had the energy to reshuffle the deck, so we ended up sitting around chatting. Conversation didn’t stray toward the heightened security in the hotel or the reason behind this, though Vanessa and Sam griped about their vampiric charges and how impossibly tedious they were to deal with.

I ended up dozing off curled up against Callahan’s side. He carried me into my room and tucked me under the comforter, moving my laptop off the bed and onto the bedside table. The mattress shifted again as Callahan bent over me and he kissed me gently on the temple.

“Sleep well, darling,” he murmured.

* * *

Despite my near death experience at the hands of my blood frenzy ridden friend, my father was of the mind that three days was enough to take off from socializing. I discovered this to be the case upon receiving an annoyed text from him the evening following the BS game. He demanded my presence at lunch with a couple of his business partners, and insinuated that I had no excuse for having been holed up in my room so long. Though the thought of being in his presence, and probably used as a tool to ensure the fulfillment of a business arrangement, twisted my stomach, I still hauled myself out of the penthouse with Callahan on my heels.

The next two weeks passed with the majority of my time consumed by being at the beck and call of my father. It turned out that this did a considerably good job of keeping my mind away from thoughts of Ellington. 

The weeks weren’t as excruciatingly miserable as I would have expected, and I had the shifters to thank for that. Callahan took to inviting our three friends over each morning for games and hanging out. I knew that the shifters had an exhausting time looking after their charges, but they came all the same and stayed with us late into the morning, for which I was incredibly grateful. Sam had been right in saying that being around people who cared about me would help considerably. 

The days at the resort returned to uneventful until those two arrived. 

The deep, reverberating rumble of Raife’s voice announced their presence to me. Much like that time at the administration building on campus, he was calling out to my father. 

I flinched imperceptibly and tucked myself behind my father as he turned to face the approaching man. Raife was grinning broadly at him as he crossed the crowded room. I bowed slightly and ducked my head as he approached. My father moved forward and embraced him.

The pair launched into amicable conversation. My eyes slid past Raife. Eden was already staring at me. I gulped and immediately dropped my gaze to the floor. I mumbled under my breath a soft ‘please excuse me’ and turned away to make a hurried escape. 

“Lucian.” Though Raife’s voice was friendly it shot a chill down my spine.

I glanced over my shoulder at him.

“Yes?” I asked hesitantly.

Raife’s hand fell to Eden’s shoulder and he propelled his vampire guardian forward. “You and Eden ought to catch up,” he said with a smile for the pair of us.

“But, sir,” Eden whispered as he looked up at Raife with silver eyes. 

“I’ll be fine, Eden,” Raife said with a chuckle.

Eden nodded. He walked slowly over to me and stopped a mere pace from me. My eyes remained rooted on the floor, but I could sense his gaze rising to my face.

“Let’s go to your room,” Eden said in a low voice.

My cheeks flooded with color. I glanced quickly up at Callahan who stood behind, but I was met with an impassive expression. I dropped my gaze and nodded.

We walked in silence out of the room and down the hall to the elevator. I could sense both Callahan and Eden behind me. As guardians, they were both trained to remain behind vampires.

It was an excruciatingly long three minutes getting up to the penthouse where Callahan and I were staying. When my hand finally grasped the door handle, I released a small sigh of relief and pulled it open. I gestured weakly for Eden to enter.

He moved inside. I followed him with Callahan close on my heels. Eden’s eyes roamed quickly over the room. They fell on the trail of clothes that led from the couch to my bedroom. In typical me fashion I had tried on at least eight different outfits before picking one that would be suitable for tonight. 

Eden walked briskly into my bedroom. I looked back at Callahan once more. This time he gave me an encouraging smile and nodded.

I followed after Eden and closed the door behind me. He stood a few paces beyond the doorway. His head was down; his shoulders slightly hunched.

“Ed—“ I began.

Eden spun around. He closed the gap between us and pressed himself against my chest. I gasped at the sudden, unexpected contact. Eden’s arms encircled my waist and he clung to me desperately. My hands rose and rested gently on his hips.

“Eden, how, how are you—you look well.” I stumbled awkwardly over the words and flinched.

“Five years,” Eden whispered, “and that’s the first thing you say to me?”

“I don’t…I don’t know what else to say,” I whispered.

Eden stepped out of my limp embrace. He gazed up at me with beseeching silver eyes.

“Maybe an apology?” he asked quietly.

I flushed and ducked my head. I nodded hurriedly. “I’m sorry.” I squeezed my eyes shut. "I'm so sorry." My voice quaked and tears sprang to my eyes.

“Hold me.” 

I slid my hands over the small of his back and tugged him forward slightly. Eden shook his head. Eden pushed onto his tip toes and pressed his lips to mine. I grunted in surprise and my eyes sprang open. Eden worked his tongue against my lips. His fingers dug into my hips. He pulled back.

“Hold me like this,” he whispered as he twined his arms around my neck.

“What?” I gasped in confusion, both over the kiss and the words.

“I want to feel your body on mine,” Eden murmured. He pressed his lips to my jaw. “I want to feel like I can trust you again.”

I closed my eyes as the words washed over me. I trembled and sniffled slightly as my eyes prickled. Eden lay his lips gently against mine again. I opened my mouth and surrendered to him.

He pushed his tongue into my mouth and played with the roof of my mouth as he pulled me back toward the bed. He fell backward and I dropped on top of him as we continued to kiss. I worked my tongue fervently against his as I pressed my hands against his hips. 

Eden yanked his head to the side, breaking the kiss, and gasped for air. 

“Okay?” I asked quietly as I brushed my lips over his ear. 

He nodded quickly. 

“Tell me if you don’t like something,” I mumbled, and then I was kissing his neck. 

Eden’s breath hitched. When my teeth kneaded his skin, he whimpered loudly. I flinched at the sound. Callahan was just past the door. If this got too loud, he’d hear. We hadn’t talked about sleeping with other people, but that didn't mean I didn't know that he wouldn’t be on board with it. But this was different than just hooking up randomly. I had to do this, if I ever wanted Eden to like me again.

I slid my hands over Eden’s chest and gripped the front of his shirt. I yanked the button up open, drawing a soft yelp of surprise from Eden. I ducked over his chest and laved my tongue over his nipple. Eden cried out _loudly_. 

“Quiet,” I hissed against Eden’s chest.

Eden whimpered. I glanced up at him as I toyed with his nipple with the tip of my tongue.

“I don’t want my shifter to hear,” I murmured.

Eden nodded and pressed his hands over his mouth. I worked his nub with my teeth, causing muffled mews to fall from his mouth. I reached down and quickly unbuttoned his pants. 

“Tell me if you don’t like something,” I said as I dragged the zipper down.

I felt Eden’s body shift as he nodded. I pulled back from his chest and lifted his ass of the bed. I glanced up at him and he nodded again. I hooked my fingers under his waistband and pulled his pants and briefs down. Eden flushed and buried his face in his hands as his half hard length was exposed. 

I reached over the bedside table and yanked open the drawer quickly. The faster I moved the less time I had to think about what I was doing. I pulled out lube and a condom. Both of these things I had originally planned to use with Callahan. 

Eden watched me from between his fingers as I dripped lube into the palm of my hand. I slicked up my fingers and dropped over him once more. I slid my hand over his length. His eyes rolled back in his skull and he moaned. My hand dipped between his legs and I pressed the tip of my middle finger against his puckered hole. 

I ducked down and dragged my tongue along his hardened length. He whimpered loudly and his hand shot out to grip my hair. I pushed my finger into his tight passage as I slipped my lips over the crown of his cock. Eden’s hips jerked off the bed. I groaned around his length.

“S-sorry,” he stuttered.

I shook my head as best I could. I worked my finger in and out of his passage as I lowered my mouth over his length, swallowing more of his throbbing girth. I forced down my gag reflex as I took in all of him. I slid another finger in along with the first and scissored them apart. Eden’s fingers dug into the crown of my head. I moaned and bobbed my head up and down. I continued to work my fingers inside of him, spreading him apart and opening him up for me. His hips twitched slightly. I nodded and moaned loudly to encourage him. Eden took the hint and thrust hard into my mouth. The tip of his cock rammed against the back of my throat. My throat spasmed and tears pricked the corners of my eyes. Eden pinned my head down and fucked into my mouth at a desperate rhythm. He whimpered and gasped as I took his length with near ease. I continued to thrust my fingers into his passage though my wrist was starting to cramp.

“Lu, Lu,” he panted, “I’m gonna cum.”

I hooked my fingers, brushing his sweet spot. Eden cried out, forgetting all about my request for quiet, and came hard in the back of my throat. I choked and tried to swallow as my best as I could. Tears dripped down my cheeks. Eden’s grip loosened and I pulled back slightly. I swallowed down all his cum and drew back. I panted and coughed. Eden shook beneath me. His hands fell to the mattress and he fisted the sheets. I slipped my fingers out of his passage and pressed the heel of my hand down on my crotch. My cock throbbed between my legs.

“Should I keep going?” I asked with evident desperation.

Eden nodded quickly. 

I undid my pants and drew out my cock. Eden watched my every movement with wide eyes. I fisted my length as I grabbed the lube and poured more onto my length. I spread the liquid over my length, gasping quietly as warmth pulled in my stomach. I squeezed my cock harshly. There was no way in fuck I was gonna shoot my load the second I slid into Eden.

I released my length and grabbed Eden’s hip. I pulled his ass onto my thighs. I aligned my cock with his fluttering hole. I looked up at him. Eden nodded. I pushed into him. 

Eden whined loudly and arched off the bed. I grunted as I pulled him down slowly onto my length. His passage throbbed around my length and my hips jerked forward. Eden moaned loudly and rocked his hips down to meet mine.

“Lu,” he whispered, “kiss me, please.”

I bent over him and pressed my lips to his. He moaned into the kiss as I pulled out slightly and thrust back in. I set a slow, undulating pace that left Eden a whimpering mess beneath me. I pressed soft kisses down his jawline and nibbled lightly on his earlobe. 

“Lucian?” he breathed. 

I nodded as I slid my tongue over the shell of his ear.

“Can I—“ Eden mewed loudly as my length brushed his prostate—“can I drink from you?”

I froze. My hands tightened on his hips and I drew back slightly. My eyes were wide as I stared down at the rumpled bedsheets by his shoulder.

“Please,” he begged, “please.”

Closing my eyes, I nodded slowly. I released his hip with one of my hands and brought my arm up to his mouth. Eden caught my arm and yanked back the sleeve. He slammed my arm down onto his mouth and punched his fangs my flesh. I cried out in startled pain. My fingernails pressed into his back.

_Fuck_. Callahan would definitely have sensed my pain. If he came in here now—God I was so dead. If he saw Eden marking me, he’d kill us both. 

By some stroke of good fortune, Callahan didn’t enter the room.

Urged by the rocking of his hips, I pulled out of Eden’s tight passage and thrust back in. Eden’s saliva was mixing with my blood and shocks of pleasure shot up my arm. I moaned against his neck and fucked into him harder. Eden moaned and sucked harder. He tightened his jaw and rocked his hips sharply. I grunted and came hard inside of him. 

Eden gasped. I pulled back and stared down at him in horror. His eyes were wide as he met my gaze.

I hadn’t put on the fucking condom. 

“Fuck, I’m so sorry,” I whispered. I drew out slowly.

Eden whined loudly as my cum rubbed against the walls of his passage. He unlatched his jaw from my arm. Blood dripped from the wound and over his chin. His elongated tongue darted out and lapped up the blood.

“You came inside,” he murmured, entirely unnecessarily in my mind. 

“S-sorry.” 

“Fuck,” Eden moaned, his eyes rolling back in his skull. “Feels—“ his breath hitched—“good.”

I flushed and ducked my head. I sat back on my heels and tucked myself into my pants.

“Sorry,” I said again. “I meant to put on a condom…I kinda forgot.”

Eden shook his head as he sat up. “That was perfect.” He pressed a soft kiss against my cheek.

He swung his legs to the side and scooted down the mattress to the edge. He stood up and pulled up his pants. I watched him over my shoulder as he buttoned up his shirt.

He didn’t say anything else as he walked over to the door and pulled it open. Yanking down my sleeve to conceal the bite mark on my arm, I leapt out of bed and hurried after him.

“Eden!” I grabbed his arm and yanked him back. “Where are you—what…?” I gazed down at him in confusion. “You, you trust me now right?” I whispered, my voice breaking on the last word.

“I have to think about it,” Eden said in a hollow voice.

“What?” I whispered. 

Eden turned away.

“Are you kidding me?” I snapped loudly. 

Eden’s head whipped back around and his eyes narrowed. 

“After all that and you have to _think_ about it! What the fuck, Eden?” I gritted my teeth as Eden continued to only stare at me silently. “I get that you were just manipulating me,” I whispered, “but was there ever a chance that you’d forgive me and trust me again?”

“I need more time,” Eden murmured. He pulled his arm from my grip.

This time I didn’t stop him as he left. I stared across the room as the door shut quietly behind him. I stood unmoving for a long moment. Anger pumped through my veins. I growled loudly. I spun on my heel.

"Fuck!" I screamed as I buried my fist in the wall. Pain lanced through my knuckles. I hissed and pulled my fist back from the sizable dent in the wall.

I dropped into a crouch and held my head in my hands. I was such a fucking idiot. There had been no doubt in my mind that Eden had just been using me, but I had let him, too desperate for him to trust me and forgive me to go against anything he asked for. So I had fucked him and I had let him drink my blood. He had marked me and Callahan was going to now and he was going to abhor me, and there was a good chance the mark was going to make him try to strangle me.

"Lucian."

I gasped as fear lanced up my spine. I dropped my hands and looked over my shoulder. 

Callahan gazed at me from the doorway of his bedroom. His face was as mask of anger.

God I was so fucking dead.


	34. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another chapter! i'm getting back into a writing groove so this one feels a bit better. ps. lucian is trying his absolute best to make so many people happy at his own expense

I rose slowly from my crouch, my eyes never leaving Callahan’s intimidating form. Though I watched him, I couldn’t bring myself to look him in the eye. The back of my neck throbbed painfully at the mere sensation of him watching me. If I tried to go toe-to-toe with him in a stare off, I had the feeling I’d end up a bumbling mess on the floor because of the mark.

“What?” I said in a rough voice.

Callahan stalked slowly across the room. My shoulders hunched and I willed myself not to back away from him. I could feel his alpha pheromones crashing off him in waves. I trembled as he closed the gap between us. He stopped only a few inches away from me. I hunkered down beneath his looming form.

“You smell of sex,” he murmured.

I ducked my head as his gaze bore into me.

“You smell of blood.” Callahan’s hand shot out and he snagged my wrist. He yanked me against his chest and pulled down my sleeve. He stared at the blood-stained bite mark on my forearm that Eden had left. The muscles in his face shuddered with anger.

“C-Callahan,” I stuttered.

Callahan gritted his teeth; his gaze sharpened. For a split moment I was terrified that he was going to bite me over Eden’s mark. The back of my neck throbbed as if to confirm this fear. 

Callahan bent forward and laid a gentle kiss on the bite. A small sob bubbled up in my chest and my arm began to tremble in his grasp. Callahan pulled back and licked the blood off his lips.

“Tastes gross,” he muttered in a husky voice.

I sobbed loudly and pressed my face against Callahan’s shoulders. Callahan wrapped his arms gently around me.

“Are you angry at me?” I managed to whimper out.

Callahan’s arms tightened around me. “I’m trying not to be,” he murmured. “The mark is making that a bit difficult.” Callahan pulled back. He rested his hands on my shoulders and stared down at me with eyes that were thankfully no longer glow. “You let him bite you, Lu.”

I nodded as my face scrunched up. My eyes brimmed with tears. 

“I really wasn’t expecting you two to have sex,” Callahan said. His voice was tight and the muscle under his eye twitched in that way that indicated he was doing his utmost to suppress his anger. “Or for you to let him mark you.” Callahan’s grip on my shoulders tightened. He quickly released me and stepped back. 

“I’m sorry,” I whispered in a barely audible voice.

“I heard what you said to him when he was leaving,” Callahan said. His voice was only a touch more audible than mine. “Why did you let him manipulate you? Why did you let him _do_ that to you?”

My head snapped back. “He didn’t fuck me! I topped!” I said hurriedly.

“That’s not what I’m concerned with at the moment,” Callahan said, an edge of anger entering his voice.

“S-sorry,” I whispered.

“Why, Lu?” Callahan continued in a softer voice. “And I’m not asking in terms of our relationship. I’m asking just about you; why did you let him do that to you?”

“He said…I just wanted him to forgive me, and trust me,” I said quietly. “I mean, I knew the whole time he was just manipulating me, but that was my only chance to be let back into his life.”

“I shouldn’t have let you go into that room alone with him,” Callahan muttered coldly under his breath.

“It was my choice,” I shot back. My voice softened as I continued, “All of it was my choice. _God_.” I pressed my face in my hands. “It was all my choice. You probably hate me now.” My voice broke on the last word and suddenly tears were streaming down my face. I shuddered and gasped. My shoulders trembled and I hunched in on myself.

Callahan wrapped himself around me once more. He pressed his lips to the top of my head and held me close.

“I don’t, Lucian,” Callahan breathed. “I could never.”

I sank into his embrace and cried quietly. When my crying had finally tapered out to quiet hiccups, Callahan spoke.

“Can I be selfish for a moment?” he asked quietly.

I pulled back from his damp shirt and looked up at him. I sniffled, knowing full well what was coming, but I nodded. 

“Why did you agree to sleep with him when we’re together?” he asked.

“Are we, um, are we exclusive?” I murmured. This was definitely the worse time to be having this conversation—it absolutely should have happened before an opportunity arose for either of us to sleep with someone else. 

“I think you know what I want us to be,” Callahan replied. It wasn’t a biting remark, simply a statement of fact. “But we both have to agree one way or the other.” He let out a dry chuckle. "We should have had this conversation a lot sooner than now.”

My small chuckle morphed in a sob as I nodded in agreement.

“I want us to be exclusive, Lu,” Callahan continued in a low voice, “but like I said we both have to agree to it.”

“I don’t think,” I whispered. I stepped out of his embrace. “I don’t know if I can…that’s a lot—I don’t know—I’m—“ I bit my lip. Being exclusive with Callahan carried so many implications; the thought absolutely terrified me. It was one thing to say I liked him, but to only be with him and not seen with anyone else? That was something else entirely. Sure, now that he was my guardian it was less strange for me to have a relationship with him. Take Eve Pryer and Morgan for instance; those two were _married_ , but it was fairly common knowledge that Eve had had a few mistresses through the years. She was a vampire after all, and vampires were never monogamous not like shifters. “I’m sorry,” I said, my voice on the verge of breaking with another sob. ”I don’t know what I want or what I can agree to right now.”

“Take your time,” Callahan said with a heavy sigh. He rubbed his forehead. 

He was trying so fucking hard to be understanding of everything that I did. I knew the majority of my actions were barely tolerable, especially what I’d done tonight, but Eden had been my best fucking friend for the entirety of my childhood. And I’d do anything to have him back in my life. It was a dick thing to think, but I’d only known Callahan for a couple of months. In a way that gave Eden precedent. Yes, I liked Callahan; I liked him so fucking much it terrified me, but Eden was still my childhood friend, and I owed him so much for what I’d done. I could only hope that Callahan had figured all this out; I was too tongue-tied and back on the verge of crying to say anything else.

“It’s late,” Callahan continued in a gentle murmur. “You should get some rest.” He reached out and tucked my hair behind my ear. His fingers trailed over the back of my head and rested on the mark. I sighed into the soft pressure. He rubbed his fingers gently against the puckered scar.

“T-tomorrow, is a free day,” I said in a hesitant voice. “We could, we could hang out?”

“I’d like that,” Callahan said with a small smile. “I was going to ask you if you’d mind coming with me to train with the other shifters.” Given the increased security, Callahan was allowed to leave me alone anymore, so either I went with him to train, or he wouldn’t be able to go.

“That would be fun,” I said with a genuine nod.

“Great,” Callahan said, smiling. 

“Can I—“ I bit my lip and flushed slightly. My eyes flickered over Callahan’s lips.

“Can you?” Callahan prompted.

I shook my head and spun on my heel. Callahan caught my arm. He pulled me back around and pressed a soft kiss to my lips. He pulled back after a moment.

“That what you wanted?” Callahan asked. 

I nodded as I kept my gaze rooted on the ground. 

“You can always have a kiss good night, darling,” Callahan murmured.

“Thank you,” I whispered. “For everything.” I didn’t apologize again because I didn’t want to open the floodgates once more. I didn’t regret what I’d done with Eden, though I hated how it had made Callahan feel.

Though we hadn’t discussed it, the fact that the mark had made Callahan so angry was something that greatly worried me. In most circumstances I had complete faith that Callahan would never doing anything to hurt me, but if his instincts got riled up by the mark, I couldn’t be so certain, which only rekindled my need to do something to get rid of the mark.

* * *

I stood by the medicine ball rack and stared down at the array of weighted balls in front of me. Sam stood beside me. She’d already selected her ball of choice. As I deliberated on my own choice, Sam lifted her elbow to prop on my shoulder, but she quickly morphed the gesture into brushing her short bangs off her forehead. I shot her a small glower. She just shrugged sheepishly at me. Callahan was behind us on the large expanse of mats sparring with Vanessa, but Sam was probably concerned that his alpha senses would start tingling if an alpha like herself touched me. 

“Just looking out for number one,” she told me with a wink.

I rolled my eyes.

“So you gonna make a pick, or are you just gonna keep staring at the balls?” Sam asked. She had a sequence of exercises planned for us. She had wanted a partner to do the workout with, but with Lionel, Vanessa, and Callahan already engaged in an activity, she’d opted for picking me as her partner.

“I don’t know which one to use,” I grumbled.

“It’s not rocket science, Lu. Just grab one and lets get going.” She didn’t sound all that impatient, rather amused. 

I had planned to simply sit in the corner and watch the shifters work out and throw each other into the floor. As a kid, I’d been trained like a shifter, but that had always been in the privacy of my own home. I knew full well my father’s desire to keep my exorbitant strength to myself. Callahan knew now that I could easily lift a barbell of five hundred and forty pounds, but I didn’t much like the idea of my strength being public knowledge.

Sam sighed loudly. She propped her med ball on the top of the rack and bent to pick up an eighty pound med ball. She tossed it to me. I caught it and wrapped my arms around it.

“There let’s go,” she said.

I didn’t mention that this choice was a little too light for me.

“Wanna spar?” Eden’s soft voice had my head jerking around fast enough to make a vertebrae pop. 

He was standing next to Callahan and gazing up at him with his large silver eyes. Callahan and Vanessa were taking a break from their own sparring. Callahan dabbed the towel he had draped over his shoulders lightly against his forehead. He didn’t break Eden’s gaze though. His eyes were an unthreatening green, but I recognized the hard set to his jaw. Vanessa stood at Callahan’s side, glancing curiously between him and Eden.

“Hey,” I snapped loudly at Eden’s back. I stalked across the room toward the trio. 

Callahan’s eyes flickered to me and Eden glanced over his shoulder

“What are you doing?” I said in a low voice as I glared at Eden. 

“Training.” Eden shrugged slightly.

“Train with someone else.” I lowered my chin and my gaze became more palpable, causing Eden to shift slightly. “Stay away from my guardian.”

“We were just going to spar,” Eden said. The coy tone in his voice made me want to smash my face into the med ball I held.

“No. You’re not sparring with him,” I hissed as I took a step toward him. 

Eden moved toward me as well until we were practically nose to nose. I saw Vanessa in my peripheral glance worriedly in Callahan’s direction, but Callahan only shook his head slowly.

“But Lu,” Eden murmured, “since I’m still not sure if I can trust you, won’t you let me play with your shifter? You can watch if you like.”

A low growl rumbled in my chest. I swung the medicine ball at the side of Eden’s head. His hand flew up and he blocked the blow, his finger tips digging into the sturdy rubber. I bore my weight down. Eden’s arm shook slightly. 

“What’s your fucking problem?” My voice broke on the last word in the most embarrassing way, but I hoped Eden was more focused on the fact that my eyes were most certainly glowing yellow. “All I want is to have you back in my life; why are you forcing me to do all these ridiculous things?”

“Maybe I don’t want you back in mine,” Eden said in a low voice. 

The strength in my arm vanished and Eden flung the med ball to the side. It bounced slowly away from us. 

“What?” I whispered.

“Maybe what you did,” Eden continued as he closed the gap between us until our noses brushed, “is so unforgivable I don’t want anything to do with you.”

My breathing came in short, shallow gasps as panic bubbled up in my chest. I couldn’t wrap my head around his words. It made absolutely no sense what he was saying; I couldn’t fathom the idea that Eden didn’t want me in his life. We had been such constants for each other when we’d kid; didn’t he want that back?

“Just kidding,” Eden whispered. He swooped in and pressed his lips against mine. He pulled back just as suddenly, leaving me reeling. “So, can I play with your shifter while you watch?”

“That’s enough you two.” Callahan’s voice was cold as ice, sending shudders down my spine originating at my spine. He rested his hand on my shoulder and tugged me back slightly. 

Eden and I didn’t look away from each other. A small smile hitched the corners of Eden’s lips. I growled low in the back of my throat. Eden leaned forward to whisper in my ear—on the opposite side of me from Callahan.

“Or will you let me watch him fuck you?”

Callahan yanked me backwards. I stumbled slightly but Callahan’s firm grip on my shoulder kept me upright. He started forward, but suddenly Vanessa interjected herself in the mix. She grabbed Eden’s shoulder and pulled him away from Callahan, out of harms way.

“That’s e-fucking-nough,” she snapped. The comment was for all three of us, I presumed, but her eyes were on Callahan. She glared fiercely up at him. “Either spar or don’t, but no one here gives a shit about your little soap opera, so if you want to keep acting like a bunch of piss babies, leave.”

I had to hand it to Vanessa; she had balls for standing up to Callahan right now. The alpha pheromones roiling off of him were making my neck throb painfully. I yanked out of Callahan’s grip, but I didn’t move toward Eden, knowing full well Callahan would grab me.

“Neither of us is gonna spar with him,” I snapped. “We’re leaving.” I spun on my heel and marched across the gym.

Callahan followed after me. I heard Vanessa growl a quiet ‘you stay put’, presumably to Eden who had probably made a move to follow us. I led the way out of the gym, ignoring the multitude of stares from the shifters. 

Callahan trailed after me in silence as I stormed now random hallways. I had no idea where I was going. As long as I was away from Eden, I didn’t care. Eden had always had a manipulative streak when we were kids, but how he’d acted back then had nothing on the twisted game he was playing now. I could only imagine that this was Raife’s influence on him. Raife made my father seem straight forward and honest. 

“Lucian,” Callahan said, rousing me from my tumbling thoughts. 

I stopped and whipped my head around to glower up at him. He came to a halt behind me as well. He reached out and gently ran his fingers over my hair. I sighed back into the touch.

“You did the right thing by leaving,” Callahan said. “For a second there I thought you were gonna try to clock him.”

“I seriously wanted to,” I muttered. A fat lot of good me hitting Eden would have done. If I’d gone after him, he’d have had more reason to lord his forgiveness over my head. “I’m surprised you didn’t,” I said as I dropped my head back and stared up at him.

“We can thank Vanessa for that,” Callahan said. “I have the feeling he was aiming to get a rise out of me, given his comment.”

I nodded.

“Well, now that training is done with tonight, how would you like to spend the rest of the night?” Callahan asked.

I pulled away slightly and turned around. “Well, I was thinking,” I said, “do wanna go on a, on a, a, like, date?”

“A like date?” Callahan teased. “What’s a like date?”

“Shut up,” I grumbled. “You wanna go on a date or not?”

“I’d love to.” Callahan bent and pressed a quick kiss to my lips. “What did you have in mind?”

“We could get brunch first?” I offered.

“Brunch sounds great.”

I slid my hand into his and tugged him down the hall. Callahan fell into steps beside me and laced his fingers with mine. Callahan took to leading the way since I had absolutely no idea where we had ended up. We made our way slowly through the halls until we reached the lobby of the hotel.

Before we stepped into the lobby, Callahan pulled his hand out of mine. The lobby wasn’t particularly busy. A handful of older women sat at the couches talking. A pair of vampires, escorted by their two shifters were checking in at the front desk. 

I reached over and grabbed Callahan’s hand. He stiffened slightly and his hand remained slack in mine, but I held onto to it nonetheless as we walked across the room toward the lobby restaurant. About halfway across the room, Callahan slipped his fingers into mine. 

We reached the lobby restaurant. The greeter, a vampire who looked to be about Callahan’s age, turned to us as we approached. Her gaze flickered between our faces and our laced fingers. Her smile flickered slightly with surprise.

“Two,” I said quietly.

“Follow me, please,” she said.

Our trek through the restaurant didn’t go quite so unnoticed as the one through the lobby. When the diners we passed caught sight of Callahan’s and my interlocked fingers, they would stare obviously and we left whispers in our wake. 

The greeter took us a small table that was tucked away in the back corner of the restaurant, where there were only a few other occupied tables. She placed the menus on the table and bid us a good meal.

Callahan dropped my hand and pulled my chair out for me. I sat down and he took the seat beside me. 

“That was a surprise,” he said as he picked up his menu and began to peruse the options.

“Did you not like it?” I asked quietly as I grabbed my own menu.

“I don’t know if it was entirely appropriate,” Callahan said. 

“You’re not technically on duty right now,” I pointed out. I glanced at him over the top of my menu.

He nodded slowly and looked up to meet my gaze. “And you did say when you told me you liked me that you wanted to hold my hand and go on dates.” He gave me a small smile.

At that moment our waiter arrived. He took our soda orders before leaving to give us more time to pick out food. Callahan and I forsook further conversation for the time being in favor of picking out food. 

The waiter returned shortly with our drinks, and we gave him our food orders. As Callahan handed him our menus, I leaned forward and sipped my cola through the straw. I could sense Callahan’s gaze on me, but I only stared at the rising bubbles in my drink. 

“Have you thought more about what we talked about last night?” Callahan asked in a low voice.

I sat back in my seat, my gaze never breaking contact with the bubbles in the drink.

“A little, I guess, yeah,” I mumbled. “I don’t know if, if I can be completely exclusive because that’s not—vampires just aren’t, and it’s hard enough doing this—“ I gestured between us to indicate the date—“Don’t get me wrong I _want_ to do this; I want to date you and I want to be with you, but it would feel like too much too soon if we went completely exclusive.”

Callahan nodded slowly. “I understand. I know it’s completely different, how vampires and shifters have relationship, and I know you’re really putting yourself in a dangerous place with your father just by dating me. I appreciate that, and the last thing I want to do is push you outside your comfort zone. I do think we need to figure out boundaries though, even if we aren’t going to be completely exclusive.”

I nodded. I slipped my hand over the back of my neck. I wasn’t entirely sure how or if I wanted to bring up the role the mark played in all of this.

At that moment, the waiter returned with our food. Once he had left again, we busied ourselves with our food for a few minutes. I took a small bite of my eggs. Due to the relatively serious nature of the conversation, I had lost my appetite. I poked furtively at my food as Callahan continued.

“I don’t feel comfortable with the idea of you sleeping with other people,” he said quietly. His gaze was on his food as well. “I understand the situation with Eden had extenuating circumstance, but going forward I’d rather you didn’t sleep with anyone else.”

I nodded slowly. “I get that. I wouldn’t want you to sleep with anyone else. We saw how I got when I found out about Luke,” I said with a dry laugh. 

“I’m not interested in anyone other than you now that we’re together,” Callahan said. “I understand that you might want the option to hook up with other people, but I’m not going to.”

“So, hooking up is okay?” I asked. “I don’t know—I mean, there’s no one I want to with right now.” My shoulders hunched slightly. “‘Cept for you,” I mumbled under my breath.

“If there ever is someone else, I’d rather you talk to me first before doing anything,” Callahan said. 

“Okay,” I said quietly. 

“Lu, if Eden wants you to sleep with him, would you?” Callahan asked.

“You just said you don’t want me sleeping with other guys,” I said, glancing at him in confusion.

“I think the Eden situation is a little different. At least I think you qualify it differently. You didn’t sleep with him because you wanted to have sex with someone,” Callahan explained.

I nodded in agreement. “I’m, I’m sorry about the situation with Eden. He just, he meant a lot to me when we were kids; he was my only friend, and I want…” I shook my head slowly. I wanted what we’d had when we were kids, but I wasn’t entirely certain that was possible now, given Eden’s relatively toxic demeanor. 

“I understand, Lu,” Callahan said. He reached under the table and slid his hand over mine. “If I could give you some advice; I don’t think you should keep doing what he asks of you. He’s probably going to keep leading you on and forcing you to do things you don’t want to.”

“Yeah, I know,” I murmured. “I—“

“Lucian.”

My head snapped around and my eyes widened. My father stood a few paces away from our table. Ethan stood a pace behind him. Beside him was Raife, and next to Raife, of course, Eden.

Callahan yanked his hand back from mine and quickly rose to his feet. I followed suite and hurriedly bowed to Raife.

“What do we have here?” my father continued as his eyes darted between Callahan and I. 

“We’re just getting brunch,” I whispered. I tugged self-consciously at the old t-shirt I’d thrown on over leggings to go to the gym.

“We’ll join you.” My father gestured to the empty table beside ours. 

“Let, let me move the table for you,” the vampire greeter said quietly as she stepped forward from behind Ethan.

Ethan smiled at her politely and shook his head. He moved forward and rearranged the table. Callahan walked around our table and helped him set the chairs up.

I sat back down slowly. Callahan hovered by his chair as he watched my father and Raife take seats at the table, across from me and beside me respectively.

“Do sit,” Raife said, smiling to Callahan.

Callahan nodded as he resumed his seat. Ethan took the chair next to my father and Eden sat down at the head of the table across from Callahan. 

“I’m glad we found you here,” my father said as the greeter hand him and the others menus. “I have something to discuss with you.” He watched me over his menu.

“Oh?” I said quietly. I kept my gaze on the food in front of me. 

“Yes,” my father said. “I have been thinking that, given the situation with the blood frenzies, it would be best if there were a change in your protection detail.”

Callahan stiffened noticeably. My eyes flashed to his face. He was staring down at the table, his eyes wide and his jaw tight. I cast a furtive glance to the end of the table. Eden was staring directly at me, a small smile on his soft lips.

“You should not have been left in a position where you had to deal with that vampire on your own,” my father continued. “I discussed this matter with Raife and he presented an amicable solution.”

“Yes,” Raife said. “I have several qualified guardians that I feel quite secure with, so I offered your father Eden as a guardian for you.”

“And I agreed that that would work well,” my father said. “Eden shall function as your guardian for the remainder of your stay at the hotel.”


	35. Chapter Thirteen (NEW!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: may 7th. I've decided to rework a few major things in the plot please bear with me!! i'm sorry for any confusion.

“Eden shall function as your guardian for the remainder of your stay at the hotel,” Lucian’s father explained. 

Callahan glanced over at Lucian. Their eyes met for a brief moment. Horror and confusion gleamed in Lucian’s yellow eyes. He quickly dropped his gaze to his nearly untouched food. His jaw tightened and Callahan could practically hear his teeth grit together. 

“Eden has considerably more experience than your guardian,” Lucian’s father continued, as if he weren’t sitting beside the subject of their conversation. “He’ll make an excellent guardian during the uncertainty of this blood frenzy debacle." 

“No.” Lucian’s voice was barely audible. He hunched his shoulders as tremors coursed through him. 

A prickle of anger ran down Callahan’s spine, and he realized Lucian wasn’t afraid or upset; he was outraged. 

“What?” Lucian’s father snapped. 

“I said, ‘No.’” Lucian’s head jerked up and he glared directly at his father. “Callahan is my guardian. I trust him. I don’t want anyone else.” 

“Lucian,” his father hissed, “this isn’t open for discussion.” 

“Good, then stop discussing it,” Lucian shot back. “Callahan is my guardian and that’s final.” 

“You do not decide what is or isn’t final here.” Lord Samirillian’s voice was dangerously low. His eyes were glowing fiercely as he glared at Lucian. “Eden _will_ function as your guardian.” 

“Absolutely fucking not,” Lucian whispered. 

“Lucian—“ 

“Did I fucking stutter!” Lucian slammed his hands down on the table as he shot out of his chair. “I don’t want _him_!” Lucian pointed in Eden’s direction, who stared at him with wide, horrified eyes. 

“Lucian, sit _down_ ,” Lord Samirillian ordered. The authority in his voice was blatant. 

Callahan’s blood thrummed as the noble vampire ordered his mark. Lucian seethed as he refused to break his gaze away from his father's. His body shook from head-to-toe, but he didn’t comply with the order. 

“I don’t want him,” Lucian whispered. 

Callahan glanced quickly over at Eden. His lower lip was trembling and tears had welled up in his eyes. Callahan would have felt bad for the vampire, if he hadn’t pulled that stunt in the gym or made Lucian give him a blow job. 

“It doesn’t matter what you want,” Lord Samirillian said. “Now _sit. Down._ ”

The weight of the noble order hung heavy in the air. Lucian braced himself against the table. His entire body was shuddering violently. His breathing came in short, stuttering gasps.

“We’re done,” Lucian panted, “with this.” He jerked back from the table and stalked away. 

Callahan sprang to his feet and hurried after Lucian. Lucian sped through the restaurant. Callahan walked quickly after him. When they were beyond the doors, Lucian stumbled to the side. Callahan caught him around the waist and steadied him. Lucian panted desperately as he leaned back against Callahan’s chest. His face was flushed and his eyes shone with tears. 

“Is everything—” the hostess began. 

"We're fine, thank you," Callahan said brusquely. 

She nodded and stepped back. 

Callahan helped Lucian to the elevators. When they reached the doors, he quickly called for a lift. Lucian sagged against him, panting quietly. 

The doors finally opened and Callahan pulled Lucian inside. He pressed the button for their floor. As soon as the doors shut, Lucian’s legs gave out. Callahan caught him and guided him gently to the floor. Lucian sobbed quietly as he dug his fingers into his knees. 

“You’re okay,” Callahan murmured as he patted Lucian’s hair. “You’re okay.” 

“I feel like I’m gonna puke,” Lucian managed to work out.

“We’re almost to the room,” Callahan assured him. 

Callahan was by no means surprised by how physically ill Lucian had become. Disobeying a noble order was no easy feat. Callahan scooped Lucian into his arms and pressed a kiss to his temple. 

“Thank you,” he murmured into Lucian’s ear, “for doing that.”  
Lucian wrapped his arms around Callahan’s neck and burrowed his face against his shoulder. 

“You’re my guardian,” he mumbled. “I don’t want anyone else.” 

Callahan smiled and kissed him again. There was going to be considerable fallout for Lucian over what he’d just done. Publicly and loudly disobeying his father would most definitely incur the man’s wrath. 

—

Eden stumbled into the hotel room. A long sob ripped from his chest. He scraped his hands through his hair, shaking and sobbing. Raife was saying his name, but the blood rushing in his ears blocked out his voice. 

Raife took him by the shoulders and pulled him around.  
“Eden,” he said gently, “take a deep breath, Eden. It’s okay.” He gently stroked Eden’s cheek. 

“It’s not okay!” Eden shrieked at him. “You were suppose to make me his guardian; you said that that would work!” 

"Eden, Eden, sh," Raife murmured quietly before suddenly striking him across the face. Eden gasped. Raife quickly stroked his cheek again. “Sh, it’s okay,” he murmured. “Calm down.” 

“Y-yes, sir,” Eden stuttered. 

“Adler is going to speak to Lucian,” Raife said as he wiped Eden’s tears away. “I told you I would make Lucian yours and I intend to follow through on that promise.” 

Eden sniffled and nodded.

“Now, can I get an apology for you yelling?” 

“I’m sorry, sir,” Eden whispered. 

“Good boy.” Raife patted his shoulder and laid a kiss on the top of his head. "Now go cool down." 

"Yes, sir," Eden murmured. He turned away and walked slowly into the bathroom. He flicked on the shower and left the water at the coldest setting. He stripped quickly of his clothes and stepped under the rush of cold water. Steam rose off of him as the water crashed against his overheated skin. He released a shuddering gasp and pressed his forehead against the wall. 

Absolutely nothing was going how he wanted. All he wanted, all he'd ever wanted, was for Lucian to me his. He'd been born to be Lucian's guardian; he'd trained to be Lucian's guardian. That was his only purpose. He raised his hand and brushed his fingertips over the tattoo that wreathed his neck. It didn't matter that he was collared to Raife; he was _supposed_ to be Lucian's guardian, and he refused to let anything or anyone get in his way. 

—

I sat on the couch, staring blankly at the coffee table. Callahan sat beside me, his arm draped over my shoulders. We had pulled up a show on the flat screen. Callahan was watching with some vague interest, but I couldn’t rouse myself from my stupor. 

Disobeying my father’s noble order had sapped me of all my strength, leaving me feeling like a lump of jello. Callahan had carried me into the hotel room and then into the bathroom. Luckily I hadn’t ended up throwing up. Callahan had drawn a bath for me as I sat on the floor. The bath had helped to sooth some of my anxiety, but I was still very much concerned over what my father was going to do given my disobedience. 

The shrill ring of my phone made me jerk up. Callahan moved his hand to my shoulder. He glanced down at me as I fished out my phone. I gritted my teeth as I stared at my father’s contact information on the screen. 

“Fuck,” I muttered. I tossed the phone aside and dropped my head in my hands.

Callahan rubbed my neck gently as my phone continued to ring loudly.

“Your father?” Callahan asked.

I nodded. 

"Lucian," Callahan said, "I don't want you to put yourself in an unsafe situation for my sake. I can tolerate Eden being your guardian if it means your father won’t be upset with you.” 

“I don’t want to back down,” I whispered. 

“I understand,” Callahan said. “You did an amazing job standing up to your father, but don’t put yourself in harm’s way, not for my sake, okay baby?” 

I nodded slowly and rubbed my eyes. I had refused my father’s order for both Callahan's sake and my own. The presumption that Callahan couldn’t protect me was deeply insulting to him, as well as entirely inaccurate; the hotel security was responsible for letting a frenzied vampire get that close to a guest. 

I had refused my father for my own sake because I absolutely detested the idea of anyone other than Callahan being my guardian. There was a reason I wanted him as my guardian and it was a simple one; I trusted him. Guardians didn’t just protect their vampiric charges from physical harm. They helped advise them; acted as a sounding board. In Callahan’s case, he also provided me with a source of blood that I could tolerable consuming. Okay, I more than tolerated his blood; it was practically addicting, but that was by no means relevant. 

My phone had ceased ringing by now, but suddenly it buzzed once sharply. I sighed as I picked it up to read the text message. 

“He wants me to go to his room,” I reported. 

“You're going to?” Callahan asked slowly. 

“I have to,” I whispered. I had to go, and I also had to apologize. Groveling would be my best bet. There wasn’t much else I could do to garner his forgiveness. Even though I didn’t want to back down, it would be in my best interest to at the very least apologize for humiliating my father. Callahan was right that I had put myself in an unsafe situation with my father by disobeying his order. I had essentially ensured that the rest of this resort trip would be hell on earth, unless I managed to convince my father to forgive me. I had plenty of practice begging for it. 

I pushed myself to my feet and stuffed my phone in my pocket. Callahan rose as well. He flicked off the TV and followed after me as I headed toward the door. 

We didn't speak as we made the trek to my father's room. Callahan remained a silent, reassuring presence beside me. Whenever we were alone in the halls, I took to holding tightly to his hand. He seemed unbothered by my bone crushing grip and rubbed his thumb soothingly over the back of my hand. 

When we finally reached my father’s room, I stopped in front of the door and stared at it for a long moment. I could feel Callahan gazing down at me. He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. 

I nodded, released a small sigh, and reached out for the door handle. My fingers rested on it as I glanced up at Callahan. 

“He wants you to wait here,” I said in a small voice. 

Callahan’s jaw tightened slightly. His eyes narrowed. He wasn’t thrilled by the prospect of leaving me alone with my father, but he finally nodded and released my hand. 

“I’ll be right here if you need anything,” he said. 

I nodded again and lifted my hand. I knocked on the door. A moment passed before I heard the soft pad of approaching footsteps. The door swung open; Ethan stood in the doorway. He glanced over my shoulder to Callahan. Callahan met his gaze as he leaned back against the wall. Ethan stepped aside, allowing me to pass. He closed the door behind us. I walked down the short entry hall into the living room. My father stood by one of the couches. His hands rested on the back of it. 

“Father?” I asked cautiously.

My father’s head snapped around. His blue eyes glowed as they rooted on me. His lips pulled back from his teeth and a twisted growl spilled from his mouth. I gasped and took a hasty step backward. My father shoved away from the couch and stormed across the room. I winced, shrinking in on myself, but I didn’t move further.

“How dare you,” my father hissed. His hand lanced out and he grabbed me by the back of my head. 

I gasped as he yanked me forward. My gaze remained averted; a soft whimper of fear fell from my lips.

“You stupid, arrogant brat! How dare you defy me like that.”

“I’m—I didn’t, I mean—“

“Quit babbling, you idiot.” My father’s hand dropped to the nape of my neck. He pulled me forward a half inch but suddenly froze. His fingers dug in hard against the puckered scar tissue there and his eyes narrowed.

My body convulsed; a strangled cry tore from my mouth. I heard my father inhale sharply as his fingers continued to press against the mark. A palpable silence fell between us. I didn’t even dare breath. My body trembled in my father’s grasp. Suddenly a loud thump echoed from beyond the door. I jerked at the sound.

“Sir,” Ethan whispered. “I’d advise releasing Lucian. Callahan is right outside the door.” 

My father snarled. He hurled me aside. I staggered back and slammed into Ethan’s chest. Ethan grunted and I felt him flinch. My father surged past us.

“He is here, isn’t he, the bastard!” my father yelled as he stormed to the door. He yanked it open. 

“Wait,” I gasped as I hurried after my father.

Callahan was still leaning against the wall, but his entire body was stiff with anger. His fist rested against the wall by his hip. Small cracks radiated through the plaster away from his hand. His eyes were narrowed to glowing slits. He cut a sharp glance toward my father when he appeared in the door, but he didn’t move a muscle.

“You,” my father hissed, taking a menacing step forward. “You dared to mark Lucian.”

“Wait.” I ducked past my father and planted myself between him and Callahan. “It was my idea. He, he didn’t—he barely had anything to do with it.” My voice was breathy with desperation. My heartbeat was so frantic I could practically feel it pulsing in my fingertips.

My father growled. His face was contorted with such vicious anger I almost whimpered with fear. 

“You brat,” he whispered, “were you so desperate to be owned you whored yourself out to a shifter.”

Callahan pushed away from the wall behind me. He took a small step forward. His fingertips brushed the small of my back.

“It, it’s not like that. I—“

My father’s hand jerked back and started to descend. I gasped. Callahan grabbed my shoulder and yanked me back against his chest. Suddenly Ethan’s hand lanced out and caught hold of my father’s wrist.

“Sir, wait.” His voice was barely above a whisper but the urgent desperation was clear in his tone. 

My father’s arm trembled in Ethan’s grasp, but he didn’t try to break free. He seethed as he stared down at me. I had only seen him this angry once before and I had prayed that I would never see him like this again. 

“Get out of my sight, you disgusting bitch.” My father stepped back into the entry hall and slammed to the door shut. 

I released a small tremble gasp that twisted into a slight sob. Callahan wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pressed a quick kiss into the top of my head.

“You’re okay,” he whispered. “You’re safe. Let’s go.”

I nodded. Callahan slid his arm around my waist and pulled me down the hall. I pressed my face into his side and stumbled along beside him. It took a little over a minute for the elevator to arrive and by the time it did, I was crying quietly into Callahan’s side. 

Callahan pulled me into the elevator. He pressed the button for our floor before taking my face in his hands and tilting his hands back.

“You’re okay, Lu,” he murmured. He bent down and kissed my forehead lightly. “He didn’t hurt you.” He knew this for a fact; he would have felt it if my father had. 

“Lucian?” Callahan asked carefully. “What is he…what is he going to do about this?” His hands slid to the back of my neck and he gently cupped the mark.

“I, I don’t know,” I whispered. My voice sounded completely wrecked. I swallowed and shook my head. “I just know he hates the idea of me being owned by someone other than him.”

—

Lord Samarillian yanked his arm out of Ethan’s grip and stormed away from him down the entry hall. Ethan followed him slowly down the hall. His head was spinning with everything that had just happened. 

Never in his life would he have thought that Lucian would get himself marked by an alpha shifter. He hadn’t even known that shifters _could_ mark vampires. Clearly the mark had taken with just as much effect as it would have with a shifter. If it hadn’t, Callahan would never have known that Lord Samarillian had grabbed Lucian by the neck. Ethan had to give credit to Callahan’s level of willpower since he hadn’t attacked Lord Samarillian for touching Lucian like that. But that was where all credit ended. Callahan had a lot of nerve laying his hands on Lucian at all, but the fact that he had _marked_ him—he had some gaul. 

Ethan was roused from his thoughts by the sound of Lord Samarillian hurling the coffee table against the wall. It shattered, spraying fragments of wood across the room. Ethan flinched. He’d seen Lord Samarillian angry before, but never like this. It had taken all of his courage to grab the lord and keep him from striking Lucian. Generally he didn’t interfere with how Lord Samarillian behaved, but if he had struck Lucian, Callahan would have snapped. 

“Ethan,” Lord Samarillian said, his voice gravely with anger, “get Merrix here. Now.”


	36. Chapter Fourteen (NEW!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: may 7th.

I by no means had any desire to attend a banquet tonight. I had spent the majority of yesterday with my face firmly planted into my pillow, willing myself not to cry. My father had wanted me to have a new guardian _before_ he knew Callahan had marked me. Now I had no doubt he would force a new one on me without hesitation, and I couldn’t bear the thought of what he might have in store for Callahan. My father had had shifters put down for smaller transgressions than marking me, but those had all been shifters belonging to my father. I could only hope that the fact that Callahan was _my_ guardian would protect him from my father.

My exhaustion had eventually overpowered the tumbling thoughts in my head and had dragged me into sleep until Callahan came in to gently shake me awake. He informed me of the banquet, which was scheduled to begin in four hours, that I was required to attend. Apparently my phone had been buzzing almost nonstop on my bedside table and he had checked it to make sure there wasn’t an emergency. The messages had all been from my father, telling me to go to the banquet and then demanding I respond to him. 

I texted back a single ‘k’, and set about making myself presentable. My eyes were ringed with heavy, dark circles and my cheeks were gaunt. Callahan had cautiously asked if I needed to feed, but I had only shook my head. I knew it was closing in on the time when I would need to feed, but I also knew I was too worked up from stress to keep blood down, even if the blood was Callahan’s.

Once I was finally dressed—in tight plaid pants, a flowing white blouse, and a cute blazer, an outfit that I loved and one that Callahan seemed to appreciate as well given the twice over he gave me and the small grin—I took hold of Callahan’s hand and we headed out to face the resort. I needed to hold on to Callahan as much as possible for as long as possible now that it was no longer certain how long he’d be able to remain my guardian. 

Callahan’s gentle grip on my hand while we'd walked had helped assuage some of my anxiety, but I was still on edge when I entered the restaurant. The entire restaurant had been reserved for this function and one long table dominated the center of the room. Most of the seats surrounding the table were occupied, but people were still filtering into the room when Callahan and I arrived. One of the waiters met us at the door and he escorted me to my seat. I found myself sequestered between two vampires I didn’t recognize. They were deep in conversation when the waiter led me to my chair and stopped abruptly when they saw me. I gave a tight-lipped smile as I dropped into the chair. I glanced over my shoulder and watched as Callahan moved to the wall where the other guardians stood. He gave me a small nod of assurance.

The vampires beside me opened their conversation to me and I was forced to partake in awkward small talk. As we chatted, I glanced around the room. There was no sign of my father, so I ended up latching my gaze onto the doorway to wait for his arrival. About seven minutes later, he entered alongside the host. 

There was a loud scraping of chairs as everyone rose to their feet upon Raife’s entry. He smiled amicably to his guests and waved for them to be seated as he continued conversing with my father. 

I plopped back into my seat and let my gaze move pass the two vampires. Eden hovered behind Raife, his eyes staring listlessly in front of him. He was dressed in black slacks and a dress shirt and looked entirely uncomfortable in both of them. My eyes moved to the figure beside him and my breath caught in my throat as I recognized the shifter. 

Merrix stood head and shoulders taller than Eden, putting him only a few inches shorter than Callahan. His black hair was slicked back from his face. His penetrating dark stare were affixed to Eden. A predator gleam hid in their depths. 

Merrix was one of my father’s alpha guardians. He was typically in charge of training my father’s collared shifters, but it would seem my father had deemed it necessary to bring him to the resort. 

Merrix, as if sensing my gaze, looked around. His eyes found mine and he grinned, the expression slicing across his face like a knife. His eyes lit up with delight and he gave me a slow wink. 

My face twisted into a scowl and I yanked my gaze away. I glared down at the table in front of me. Merrix had been with my father for almost a decade and a half. During this time he hadn’t just trained shifters; he had also trained both Eden and myself. And he’d done so ruthlessly.

Raife and my father moved to the head of the table. Raife took the chair at the head and my father sat down on his right hand side. Raife turned his attention to the vampires sitting beside him as did my father. With Raife seated, the wait staff set about taking orders for dinner. 

The meal proceeded extraordinarily slowly. I lost all desire to talk to those around me and I also had no appetite. Instead, I took to simply staring at the plate in front of me. Anxiety was shooting through me like sparks, and it didn’t help matters that I could sense Merrix’s gaze on me throughout the meal.

By the time desert rolled around, I was decidedly fed up with this entire affair. I gritted my teeth and pushed my chair back from the table. I rose to my feet and went to the head of the table. 

“Excuse me,” I mumbled to Raife. 

Raife and my father had been speaking together in low voices. They glanced up at the quiet interruption. I folded my arms as I stared down at Raife.

“Thanks for inviting me,” I said. "Would it be okay if I turned in?"

Raife smiled warmly as he rose to his feet. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into quick hug. 

“Of course,” he murmured, holding me a second longer than I liked. When he released me, I stepped back hurriedly. “You look exhausted; get some rest.” He brushed his fingers over my cheek.

“I will walk you to your room,” my father said as he stood as well. 

“Y-you don’t have,” I whispered, shaking my head, but my words went ignored as my father turned to Raife to thank him for the banquet. 

After they had said their goodbyes, my father led the way out of the restaurant. Both Callahan and Merrix fell into step beside us. I could feel Merrix’s dark eyes on my back and my neck prickled as I sensed Callahan’s annoyance. Having another alpha eye his mark probably wasn’t his favorite thing in the world. 

I let my father lead the way back to my room a few paces in front of me. Neither of us spoke. My stomach was beginning to twist around itself with nervous energy. My father was by no means escorting me back to my room out of the goodness of his heart. We would most likely be discussing what had transpired yesterday. 

We finally reached the room and I unlocked it. I pulled the door open. My father walked past me and Merrix followed. He flashed me a quick grin was he walked by. Callahan reached over me and held the door. I glanced up at him and he gave me a reassuring smile, but there was a hard set to his jaw that told me he was just as anxious about this as I was. I stepped inside and Callahan moved to follow. 

“He stays outside,” my father ordered without even looking around. He moved to the fireplace and leaned against the hearth. 

I looked quickly back at Callahan, who clenched his teeth but took a step backward. He released the door and let it swing shut behind me. The door clicked shut. 

Merrix was beside me immediately. He wrapped his arms around me and pressed his face against my neck. 

“I missed you, Lu,” he said into my neck. 

“Let go of me, shit head,” I muttered. 

He laughed and released me. Merrix had always been much too handsy for his own good. Even when we'd been kids, he'd grab me, hug me, paw me. He didn't care if my father saw him doing this. My father held him in high regard given his status as an alpha, and an exceptionally powerful one at that. Merrix knew all too well that this was the case and he took full advantage of the fact. 

I pushed past Merrix and walked toward my father, stopping by the couch.

“What is, what is this about?” I asked hesitantly.

“I think you know what this is about,” my father said with a heavy sigh as he turned toward me completely. He folded his arms and stared down at me with vibrant yellow eyes. 

“This is about someone,” Merrix said as he moved up behind me, “letting himself get marked by an alpha.” Merrix’s hand rested on the back of my neck, just below the mark.

I stiffened, releasing a startled gasp. Merrix pressed flush against my back and he ran his thumb over the puckered scar. 

“It’s not your business,” I said, jerking my head away from Merrix. 

Merrix grabbed me again and he thrust his hips forward. I stumbled forward and slammed into the back of the couch. I caught the cushion as Merrix pushed against me. 

“Your daddy isn’t all that pleased that you got marked by that alpha,” Merrix murmured in my ear. His hand slid over the back of my skull and he wrapped his fingers in my hair. He pushed my locks out of the way, revealing the back of my neck. He bent forward and I felt his hot breath on the back of my neck. 

My eyes widened and my gaze snapped up to my father. I gaped at him.

“Are, are you serious?” I whispered.

My father only stared at the pair of us with an unwavering, blank expression.

“Are you crazy!” I cried up at Merrix.

Merrix laughed and ran his tongue over the back of my neck and my entire body convulsed. 

“Stop,” I whispered. 

“The only way to break the mark with your alpha is for you to be bitten by another,” my father said. “Merrix will make a suitable alpha for you, unlike him.” My father inclined his head toward the door. 

“You don’t have the right to make that choice!” I yelled at him. “Merrix! If you bite me, I’ll kill you!” 

“Mm, marks can’t kill their alphas, baby boy,” Merrix murmured. 

“Then Callahan will kill you,” I shot back. 

“I think I can take him,” Merrix whispered. 

“Then let them fight!” My eyes shot up to my father. “Let Callahan and Merrix fight!” 

Merrix paused. He straightened up slightly and his grip on the back of my head loosened slightly. My father gazed down at me with a pondering expression. 

“Let them fight,” I repeated. “Winner takes all.” 

“I’m down!” Merrix said excitedly as he pulled back completely from me and took a step back. “It’ll be fun.” 

My father cast him a quick glower before looking back at me. I straightened up from the back of the couch and sidestepped away from Merrix. 

“Fine,” my father snapped. “Tomorrow evening, nine o’clock at the shifter training yard. Whichever alpha wins gets to claim you.” My father stalked across the room, gesturing quickly for Merrix to follow. 

Merrix blew me a kiss as he fell into step behind my father. My father yanked open the doorway. Callahan was leaning against the wall outside the door. His arms were folded and he had a white knuckle grip on his biceps. His face was a hard plane of anger as he looked past my father and met Merrix’s gaze. 

“See you tomorrow,” Merrix said cheerfully as he walked past Callahan, following my father. 

Callahan watched him go for a moment, before pushing away from the wall and stepping into the room. He slammed the door shut behind him and let out a rattling breath. 

“What just happened?” he murmured. 

I ran across the room and flung my arms around Callahan’s neck. Callahan gasped in surprise and his arms instinctively circled my waist. I pushed off the floor and buried my face in the crook of my neck. He held me close and breathed in deeply. 

“You smell like that alpha,” he whispered, his grip tightening around my waist. 

I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled back from his neck. I nodded as I stared down at him. My heart was clamoring in my chest as my fingers pushed through his hair. 

“Callahan?” I breathed as I drew my face close to his until our noses brushed.

“Yes?” Callahan said in a rough voice as his hands slid down to cup my ass. 

I rolled my hips forward. Callahan grunted as he took a step back, slamming into the door. I drew my thumbs down his jawline, tipping his head back, and lowered my lips to brush his. 

“I need you to fuck me.”

—

Merrix stared at Lord Samarillian’s back as the noble strode away from him. Nervous anticipation twisted his stomach as Samarillian grabbed the handle of his bed chamber door. He yanked the door open, moved inside, and slammed the door shut. 

Merrix released a small sigh of relief. Movement caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He glanced around. Ethan stood in the door of his own bedchamber. He leaned against the door frame and folded his arms. He was dressed in sweats and a t-shirt that clung to his broad torso.

“How was dinner?” Ethan asked. He had remained behind so that Merrix could escort Samarillian to the dinner. Raife only kept one guardian on hand, so it would be impertinent of Samarillian to show up with two.

“Good,” Merrix said, a shit-eating grin spreading over his face. He loped across the room and stopped when he was a pace away from Ethan. They were almost of a height, though Ethan claimed an extra inch over him. He tilted his chin back to meet Ethan’s gaze. He didn’t mind bearing his neck ever so slightly to the other alpha. Doing so always made Ethan flush ever so slight and drop his gaze to Merrix’s neck before looking away quickly. “I got to see Lucian. Baby boy made himself a bitch for that alpha.”

“Merrix,” Ethan said in a low, cautioning voice. “Don’t talk about Lucian like that.”

Merrix chuckled quietly and took another step forward. He reached out and slid his hands over Ethan’s hips. Ethan’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t move.

“Where will I be sleeping?” Merrix asked. He stepped closer to the other alpha and their hips brushed.

“Wherever you like,” Ethan said. 

“I wanna sleep with you,” Merrix purred. He pressed closer and his chest brushed against Ethan’s.

“Fine, but hands to yourself,” Ethan said in a hard voice.

Merrix nodded and quickly dropped his hands to his sides. He flashed Ethan a pleased grin. Ethan rolled his eyes as he turned around. He walked into the bedroom. His laptop sat on the bedside table. He grabbed it and climbed into bed.

They didn’t speak as Merrix readied himself for sleep. Ethan wasn’t much of a talker and Merrix didn’t want his own tendency to chatter to ruin his chance of getting into bed with the other shifter. Ethan was lenient regarding Merrix’s keen desire to hang around him as much as possible, but Merrix knew from experience if he pushed too much, Ethan would toss him out on his ass.

When Merrix was dressed in just a pair of loose lounge pants, he walked over to the bed. Ethan was propped up against the pillows, a set of headphones on and his gaze locked to the screen. His arms were crossed over his chest once more and his shoulders were stiff with tension. Only the light of the bedside lamp and Ethan’s computer filled the room. Merrix crawled into bed beside the other shifter and lay on his side. He pillowed his head on his arm and gazed up at Ethan.

“Want to watch?” Ethan asked, his voice pitched a little loud due to the headphones.

Merrix shook his head. He reached out and rested his hand on Ethan’s thigh. Ethan glance down at him. He pulled off his headphones and raised an eyebrow.

“Do you want me to rub your shoulders?” Merrix asked quietly. Behaving demurely wasn’t a tendency of his, but being close to Ethan like this always made him a touch shy.

“That’s alright,” Ethan said, shaking his head. A small smile touched his lips.

“But you seem so stressed,” Merrix said as he rubbed slow circles into Ethan’s thigh.

“I am,” Ethan said with a heavy sigh, “but don’t worry about it.” He dropped his hand to Ethan’s and pushed it off his thigh.

“You stressed because of Lu?” Merrix asked. 

“Yeah,” Ethan said simply. “Did you—“ his gaze flickered between the laptop and Merrix’s face—“did Samarillian have you break the mark?”

“He wanted me to,” Merrix said. He rolled onto his back with a heavy sigh and stared up at the ceiling. “But Lucian came up with a more interesting idea.” A grin split his face and his eyes moved to Ethan’s. “I get to fight his alpha for the right to mark Lu.”

Ethan’s jaw tightened; his eyes went wide; and he inhaled sharply. Merrix frowned and sat up on his elbows.

“You’re fighting Callahan?” Ethan said. 

“Yeah? What of it?” Merrix asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Don’t take this lightly, Merrix,” Ethan said. “Callahan’s strong. Don’t get cocky.”

“I won’t, I won’t,” Merrix said, dropping back onto the pillows. “I know he’s strong; I have eyes and I can smell the alpha on him. Besides Lucian wouldn’t pick a pussy to mark him. Why did he get marked? You know?”

“No idea,” Ethan said. “Doesn’t matter.” He rested a hand on Merrix’s shoulder. “You should sleep.”

“Can I have a good luck kiss for tomorrow?” Merrix asked, pushing up onto his elbow once more.

Ethan only gave him a hard look.

“Please,” Merrix whined.

“Go to sleep, Merrix,” Ethan said flatly. 

Merrix sighed as he dropped onto the mattress once more. He pushed his legs under the covers and pulled them up to his hips. Ethan put his headphones back on and returned his attention to his show. Merrix pressed his forehead against Ethan’s hip. His hand slid over Ethan’s leg and cupped his knee. Ethan allowed all this, knowing from experience that Merrix slept better when he was anchored to someone. Merrix hummed contentedly and closed his eyes. 

He didn’t need Ethan telling him Callahan was strong. He could tell that just by looking at the other alpha, and the fact left him a little more than just wary of tomorrow. He was borderline terrified of the fight. He knew all too well just how angry Samarillian would be if he lost, but that was a distinct possibility.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just wanna thank everyone whos stuck with bb and who leaves comments and kudos and just all of the support! it means so much to me! if you want another way to support me as a writer, you can donate to my ko-fi! don't feel obligated to, of course!  
> https://ko-fi.com/A006GYB


	37. Chapter Fifteen (NEW!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: may 7th.
> 
> cw: sexual assault (when POV switches to Merrix)

Callahan pressed his lips to mine and I moaned into the kiss. My arms tightened around his neck and I rolled my hips again. Callahan pulled back from the kiss and shoved away from the door. 

I dropped my lips to his neck and dragged my teeth over his skin. He grunted and his grip on my hips tightened. I continued to toy with the side of his neck as he carried me into the bedroom. 

His knees collided with the side of the mattress and he released me. I let go of his neck and let myself fall onto the bed. Callahan dropped over me, one of his hands landing beside my head, the other cupping my hip. 

“Lucian, what happened?” he murmured as he nipped lightly along my jawline. 

I whined and tipped my head back, exposing my neck to him. He pressed his lips against the soft skin under my jawbone and sucked hard. 

“Lucian,” he pressed.  
“He wanted Merrix to break the mark." 

Callahan pulled back quickly and stared down at me. The hand on my hip tightened painfully. I bit my lip. 

“What?” he hissed. 

“And Merrix was going to, but—“ I broke with a yelp as Callahan’s grip tightened further. 

“Sorry,” Callahan gasped as he pulled his hands away from. He sat back on his heels. 

“It, it’s okay,” I said with a shake of my head. “I, I got Merrix to stop, but you...you have to...” 

“I have to what?” Callahan asked as traced his thumb along my jawline. 

“You have to fight Merrix,” I explained, my voice barely above a whisper. “Tomorrow morning, and if you lose, Merrix gets to break the bond.” 

Callahan drew his fingers back carefully and clenched his hand into a fist. 

“I see,” he murmured 

“Cal,” I whined as I lifted my arms up. I slid my hands over the back of his neck. “Cal, please, can we just forget that for now? I need you.” I pulled him down. 

Callahan rested his forehead against mine and his hands slid over my body to cup my waist. 

“Why so desperate all of sudden?” he asked. Despite the typically teasing nature of such a question, he asked it quite seriously. 

“Be _cause_ ,” I said, my voice breaking as I felt something akin to panic bubbling up in my chest, “if you lose tomorrow, we can never do this again. I might not even be able to see you again and I can’t. I _can't_ —“ 

Callahan pressed his lips to mine. I sighed into the kiss and laced my fingers into his hair. Tears prickled my eyes as Callahan’s tongue darted out and slid across my lips. He nipped gently at my bottom lip before pulling back, our foreheads still pressed together. 

“I won’t lose,” he whispered. “I won’t lose you.” 

“Pr-promise?” I stuttered. 

“Promise,” he murmured, “so we’ll have all the time in the world to do this.” He slid his hands over my torso and drew his thumbs over my nipples. 

I whimpered and my chest bucked up against his hands.

“You still want to?” he asked. “We don’t have to have to rush.” 

“Please,” I said, nodding. 

Callahan pulled back. He leaned over to the bedside table and pulled out lube and condom. He tossed the latter onto the bed and popped open the lube. As he did this, I yanked off my blazer and my shirt. 

“No need to rush, baby,” Callahan said with a laugh. 

“Shut up,” I muttered as I sat up. “Kiss me.” 

Callahan brought his lips to mine. I pressed into the kiss as I slid off my pants. I kicked them aside as I brought my hands to his hips and pulled him down onto the mattress. 

Callahan dropped over me, bracing one hand against my hip. The other he brought between my legs. He drew his thumb, slicked with lube, slowly over my half-hard cock. I yelped against his lips. He shoved his tongue into my mouth, drawing a long moan from me. 

He slid his fingers over my inner thigh. I whimpered and my fingers pressed into his hips. Callahan broke the kiss and brought his lips to my collar bone. I gasped as he pressed his teeth to the bone. Callahan’s fingers found my second hole. He pressed his forefinger to the puckered rim. 

“Okay?” he murmured. 

“Mm-hm,” I answered as I pressed the back of my hand against my mouth. I closed my eyes and my heart ricocheted in my chest as he slid his finger inside. My hand muffled my long moan. 

Callahan left a trail of kisses down my chest as he drew his finger out slowly and pushed it back inside. His teeth scraped against my nipple and my hips jerked up. He continued to work my nipple with his teeth as he fucked his finger slowly in and out of my passage. He bit down gently on my nipple and rolled his tongue over it. I whined loudly. Callahan pressed in a second finger. I choked on a groan. The hand that wasn’t pressed to my mouth shot up to his hair and tangled in the locks. 

“Okay?” he asked again as he pulled back from my chest. 

I cracked my eyes open and met his green gaze. I nodded. Callahan drew back from my chest as he pried his fingers apart slowly. My eyes rolled back in my skull and I muffled a loud moan. Callahan’s free hand slid over my wrist and he pulled my hand away from my mouth. 

“I want you to talk to me, baby,” Callahan murmured. “This good?” He spread his fingers apart again as he thrust them in. 

I choked on a cry and my eyes squeezed shut again. I nodded hastily as I blinked my eyes open. 

“Y-yeah,” I whispered as I met Callahan’s gaze again. And it did. It felt so good. Pleasure was skittering over my nerves and my thighs were practically vibrating. My cock was completely hard, arching out of my folds and pressing against my stomach. Precome smeared over my skin. Heat was pooling in my lower abdomen and my second hole fluttered and clutched at thin air. 

“I’m going to add a finger,” Callahan said. 

I nodded quickly. I bit my lip as Callahan pressed the third digit into my passage. I whined at the stretch and rocked my hips down, making his fingers puncture me deeper. Callahan slid his thumb over my chin. He pulled my lip free of my teeth and slid his thumb into my mouth. I pressed my teeth down on the digit, but not hard enough to break his skin. 

“Good boy,” he murmured as he started to pump his fingers in and out of my passage. 

I thrust my hips off the bed. My cock ached and twitched desperately. My hand flashed out and clasped my length. I moaned around Callahan’s thumb as I squeezed my eyes shut and began to pump my erection. 

“That’s it, good boy. Are you going to come?” Callahan said in a low, rough voice.

I nodded and released a long whine. Callahan picked up his pace, ramming his fingers hard and deep. I bit down on his thumb and pressed my own to the crown of my cock. My entire body shuddered as my orgasm broke over me. Cum spurted over my chest and passage clenched around Callahan’s fingers. I cried out around his thumb and bit down hard enough to taste blood. 

“Fuck, baby, you’re beautiful,” Callahan whispered. 

I whimpered and slumped back on the mattress. My jaw went slack as my tongue lazily lapped up the droplets of blood on Callahan’s thumb. Callahan drew his fingers out of my passage. I whined and shook my head, cracking my eyes open. 

“Don’ stop,” I panted.

“Don’t worry, baby,” Callahan said as he picked up the condom. He slid his thumb out of my mouth and ripped the package open. “I’m not stopping.” He popped open his jeans and drew down the zipper. Slowly, he pulled his cock out and situated the condom on the head. 

“F-fuck,” I breathed as I stared at Callahan’s erection. I watched as he unrolled the condom over his thick girth. 

Callahan grabbed my hips and pulled my ass up onto his thighs. I gripped the comforters. My breathing started to pick up as my heart beat frantically in my chest. 

Callahan rested the head of his cock against my puckered hole. I gritted my teeth. He glanced up at me and I nodded slowly. Callahan shifted his grip slightly on my hips before pressing inside. I gasped loudly and my hand flew to my mouth. I whimpered pathetically and squeezed my eyes shut. Callahan rocked his hips forward, gaining another inch inside of me. Tears leaked out of eyes and I took shaking breath. 

“Lucian,” Callahan murmured as he paused. “You gotta relax, baby.” He circled his thumbs soothingly over my hipbones. “Just breath. You’ve done this before.” His voice was gently, soothing. 

“Only with dildos!” I snapped loudly, my eyes springing open to glare up at him. “A dick’s completely different!” 

“W-wait,” Callahan stuttered in shock and I felt his dick twitch slightly inside of my passage. “You’ve never...?” 

My cheeks flooded with color and I threw my arms over face. 

“Lucian.” Callahan released my hips. He gently took hold of my wrists and pulled my arms away from face. “I thought...baby, why didn’t you say something?” 

“It, it doesn’t matter,” I muttered. “J-just put it in.” 

“Lucian, it absolutely matters,” Callahan said. He cupped my face and stroked my cheeks gently. “You’re sure you want this? We aren’t rushing into it?” 

“I, I really, really want you.” My voice was barely louder than a breath of air. “Please.” 

“Tell me to stop if it starts to hurt,” Callahan said. 

“You don’t have to be gentle,” I snapped. 

Callahan bent forward. The change of position shifted his cock inside of me and I groaned. Callahan pressed his forehead against mine as he brought his hands back to my hips. 

“But I want to be gentle,” he said with a grin as he slid achingly slowly inside of me. 

I wrapped my legs around Callahan’s waist and yanked him forward. Callahan grunted as his cock buried inside of me. His hips snapped against my ass. I cried out and my back arched off the mattress. 

“Fuck,” I hissed.  
“Shit, Lu, are you okay?” Callahan asked as he started to pull back.  
“Don’t you dare pull out,” I gritted out as my legs tightened around his waist. “Fuck me now.” 

Callahan rolled his hips forward. I gasped, my passage feeling impossibly stretched open around his cock. Obscene whimpers spilled off my lips as Callahan pulled out and fucked back into me. Heat flooded my body as he thrust into me. Callahan pressed his face into the crook of my neck and bit down hard. I cried out and rutted down on his cock. I pressed my hand to my mouth. Tears dripped from my eyes and I muffled a long sob. Callahan dragged his tongue over the bite mark before nipping along my throat. He continued to pound into me. He rolled his hips, shifting the angle, and suddenly the head of his cock rammed _there_. I shrieked into the palm of my hand. My passage clenched and my thighs clamped around his hips. I shuddered and my vision went white as another orgasm burned through me. I sobbed desperately and my body began to shake beneath Callahan. 

“Fuck, baby,” Callahan hissed against my neck. “Okay, you’re okay. Fuck, you feel so good.” He rocked gently into me as my passage slowly began to relax. 

A small sob fell from my mouth again. I pressed my hand harder against my mouth. Callahan pulled back and stared down at me. 

“Shit, Lucian, are you hurt?” 

I shook my head, squeezing my eyes shut. My body trembled and I released another sob. 

“Baby, please, talk to me,” Callahan begged as he pressed his forehead to mine. 

I dropped my hand from my mouth. 

“S-sorry,” I whispered. 

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” Callahan breathed. “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing’s wrong,” I panted. “It feels, it feels so good ’n I’m so—“ I gasped as my body shuddered. 

Callahan gasped as well and his hips twitched slightly but he kept himself still.

“You’re so?”

“I’m so happy,” I sobbed. 

Callahan kissed me. He rocked his hips gently, dragging his cock and in and out of my passage. I whined into the kiss. He continued to fuck me gently as he worked his lips against mine. His thrusts were careful, precise, and avoided my g-spot, for which I was incredibly grateful; I absolutely would not be able to handle another orgasm. My legs had already gone slack around his hips and my arms felt like jello. Callahan pulled back from the kiss. He was panting slightly as he continued to rut into me. 

“Lucian,” he breathed, “Lucian, I love you.” 

I gasped. Shock lanced through me; my passage clenched. Callahan grunted and came hard, his fingers digging into me with bruising force. He continued to rock his hips slowly as he rode out his orgasm. I squeezed my eyes shut, my body trembling as I replayed his words over and over and over in my head. 

Callahan slid his arms around my waist. He shifted back on his heels and pulled me against his chest. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my temple against his. I whined again as he slowly lifted me off his cock. Carefully, he lay me back on the pillows. Bracing himself on his elbow, he hovered over me. 

“You okay?” he murmured as he brushed my hair off my forehead. I nodded slowly. “That was good?”

I nodded quickly. 

He chuckled and kissed my forehead. My eyelids fluttered shut as exhaustion suddenly weighed down on me. 

“I’m sorry I said that, Lucian,” Callahan murmured. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” 

“You!” My eyes sprang open. “You didn’t mean it?”  
“Oh, I meant it, darling,” he said with a smile. “I’m just sorry I took you by surprise.” 

“You meant it?” I breathed. 

“Yes.” Callahan kissed my lips lightly. “And I meant my promise as well, Lucian. I won’t lose you. Ever.” 

—

I trailed slowly after Callahan, my eyes rooted on his back as he strode confidently down the hallway. He seemed ready for what lay at the end of that hallway, but I certainly wasn’t. He might have made promises, and I trusted his word, but Merrix was strong. I’d seen him fight Ethan and I’d seen him beat Ethan. I’d always considered Callahan and Ethan on par in strength, which meant there was the possibility that Merrix would beat Callahan. 

Callahan reached the door at the end of the hall and pulled it open. Beyond the door lay a large, outdoor training yard. A covered walkway encircled the yard. Moonlight spilled over the hard-packed dirt. In the center of the yard stood Merrix. He was dressed in loose sweats and a turtle neck, and was lazily stretching his arms. 

He grinned at us as he caught sight of us. Callahan stepped inside and I followed him. My eyes flickered to the covered walk. My father stood beyond the railing, his arms were folded and his eyes met mine as I entered. Ethan stood at his side. His eyes slid away from Merrix as we entered. My father beckoned me over to them. 

I walked toward him. As I passed Callahan, I rested a hand on his arm. He glanced down at me, but I couldn’t bring myself to meet his gaze. I dropped my hand and started to walk away. Callahan’s hand lanced out and he caught mine. He gave my hand a small squeeze. 

“Cute,” Merrix sneered. 

I flushed, but I gave Callahan a small smile. 

“I got this, baby,” he murmured almost inaudibly, which guaranteed his words were only for me. 

I nodded and crossed the yard to where my father and Ethan stood. My father cast me a derisive sneer. I ignored him as I hopped over the railing and turned around to face the yard. 

“You two do make an awfully cute pair,” Merrix said. “I almost feel bad about splitting you up.” He grinned wolfishly at Callahan as he caught the hem of his turtleneck and stripped it off. 

I almost rolled my eyes as his dramatics, but I froze at the sight of the collar biting into the skin around his neck. The collar was made of black leather, which contrasted starkly with the pale skin of Merrix’s chest and face. The skin around the collar, however, was an irritated red; the collar was too tight on him. I glanced at the two men beside me. 

Ethan’s gaze had dropped to the ground when Merrix had stripped. His jaw was tight. I looked at my father. He was watching the proceedings with a blank expression. It was atypical for my father to collar his guardians. On top of that, Merrix had always treated my father’s collared shifters viciously, borderline cruelly, and almost like they were collared to _him_ and not just my father. I had talked to the collared shifters a couple of times about it, and they’d informed me that Merrix had never tried anything with them, just treated them like shit for being collared. I couldn’t imagine that Merrix had willingly let that collar be put on him. 

Merrix began pacing slowly back and forth across the packed down dirt. His glittering black eyes never left Callahan’s face. He was grinning in that maniacal fashion of his. I knew that expression all too well having faced off against him several times before while I’d been training. As a kid, I’d never been able to take Merrix. That bordering-on-psychotic expression of his had always scared me to the point where I hadn’t gone full force against him for fear of pushing him over the edge. 

Callahan, on the other hand, met his gaze, unflinching and unbothered. His own eyes shone a vibrant green and the muscles in his face shifted slightly. 

“Get on with it, you two,” my father called across the yard. 

Merrix snaked forward, driving a powerful kick at Callahan’s side. Callahan sprang backward and stepped quickly out of Merrix’s range. Merrix snarled. His face convulsed and sleek black fur slid fluidly up his bare arms. His face broadened, shifted; fur sprang up around his eyes, which morphed in shade to vibrant yellow. My eyes widened. I’d never seen Merrix shift, which was no surprise. During training, shifters never went into their beast form. There was no reason to; during training, shifters weren’t trying to kill each other. 

The were-panther surged forward, slashing sickle-like claws at Callahan’s face. Callahan dodged under the swipe and danced back. His own claws had elongated ever so slightly, as had his ears. He breathed steadily, calmly, as he watched Merrix’s moves with bright green eyes. 

Merrix pressed the attack, slicing through the air ruthlessly. Callahan continued to remain out of range, dodging his attacks, but not launching his own. When another of his swipes cut fruitlessly through the air, Merrix tossed his head and released a horrible snarl, his jaw snapping apart and revealing obscenely long fangs. 

Merrix unleashed a flurry of blows, moving so quickly he become a blur of slick black fur. Callahan darted back, but Merrix was too quick. Callahan yanked his arm up and Merrix’s forearm slammed into his own. The tips of Merrix’s claws pressed against the side of Callahan’s face. Callahan gritted his teeth and shoved him aside with all his might. Merrix stumbled to the side. Callahan surged forward, slamming his knee into Merrix’s side. 

Merrix dropped to the ground, rolling of Callahan’s reach and coming up in crouch. He snarled as he gazed up at Callahan. I watched as Callahan’s shoulders rose and fell in a deep sigh. A wave of alpha pheromones rolled off of him. I clenched the railing in front of me and gasped. 

Merrix’s eyes went wide. He let out a cautious growl and rose to his feet, stepping back slowly. My eyes dropped to Callahan’s arms. Mottled gray and brown fur covered his arms. His claws were almost as long as his forearms and hooked inwards. 

He had shifted. 

Callahan sprang forward. Merrix dodged and aimed a swipe at Callahan’s side. Callahan blocked the blow easily, sending Merrix reeling. The were-panther caught his footing barely, but Callahan was already upon him. He sliced his claws across Merrix’s chest, serrating his flesh. Merrix howled. He tripped backward and fell hard on his back. 

Callahan pounced. He punched his claws into Merrix’s shoulder, pinning him down. Merrix screamed. His eyes rolled back in his skull. Callahan slammed the palm of his other hand against Merrix’s throat, grinding the collar against his esophagus. Merrix choked. His body shuddered, fur falling away to reveal pale skin. His face returned to human proportions. Callahan bore his weight down on Merrix’s throat. A long whimper escaped the shifter. 

“That’s enough, right?” I snapped at my father. 

My father glanced down at me and arced his brows. 

“You said winner takes all.” 

My eyes widened and I shook my head. My gaze slid to Ethan. He had turned away from the fight completely. 

“You cant’ be,” I breathed, shaking my head. “That’s not what I meant!”

I twisted around and hopped over the railing.

“Callahan, stop!” 

Callahan ripped his claws from Merrix’s body. I raced across the yard. Callahan’s claws descended toward Merrix’s face. I grabbed Callahan’s wrist, stopping it in midair. 

“Cal, no!” My eyes flew up to his face. 

Large green eyes met my gaze. I choked on a gasp. My knees trembled as Callahan’s overwhelming alpha aura washed over me. My eyes skittered across his face. It was covered in the same mottled fur as was on his arm. His jaw had widened and hook fangs arced out of his mouth, dipping below his chin. 

“You’re...” I whispered as my hands fell away from Callahan’s arms. 

He rose slowly from his couch and loomed over me. I tripped backwards and fell onto the dirt. I stared up at him with wide eyes. Anger twisted the face of the beast before me. 

“Sabertooth tiger,” I whispered. “How…”

“Lucian!” my father bellowed at me. “Get your shifter under control _now_!” 

Callahan’s lips pulled back from his fangs in a sneer and he released a low snarl. I whimpered slightly and scooted back on the dirt. 

“Cal,” I whined. 

Callahan stepped toward me. I gasped and jerked back further across the dirt. Callahan paused. His eyes raked over me. The only sound in the yard was Merrix’s haggard breathing and the quiet plop of blood as the liquid dripped from Callahan’s claws. 

Callahan closed his eyes and released a rumbling sigh. The fur melted away from his body and his face slowly morphed back to human form. He blinked his eyes open and gazed down at me. 

“Lu, are you okay?” Callahan said quickly as he knelt down beside. 

“I, I’m fine,” I stuttered. “Merrix, we have get him to the infirmary.” 

Callahan looked quickly over at Merrix’s still form. His jaw tightened as his mouth twisted in regretted. He carefully scooped Merrix into his arms and rose to his feet. 

“We’re done here, correct?” Callahan said in a low voice as he glanced over at my father. 

“He’s all yours,” my father bit back, and I wasn’t entirely certain if he meant me or Merrix. 

Callahan turned and headed out of the training yard with Merrix in his arms. I hastened after him. Callahan shouldered the door open and we headed down the hallway. 

“Is he going to be okay?” I asked. Merrix might have been a colossal asshat to put it gently, but I hated the thought that Callahan might have done serious damage to him. 

“Yes,” Callahan said. “Thanks to you.” He glanced down at me. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. 

“For what? You won.” My eyes dropped to the floor. Despite my words, I had a feeling I knew what Callahan was apologizing. 

“Shifting,” Callahan murmured. “I shouldn’t have...” His own gaze was on the floor as well as he spoke. 

“Would you have won otherwise?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

“No.” Callahan’s eyes moved to Merrix’s face. “Probably not.” 

“Then there isn’t, isn’t really a problem,” I said. “At the church I couldn’t have beaten that sanguine unless I went into a frenzy. Sometimes you just...gotta, even though it, it sucks.” 

“It does,” Callahan murmured as he nodded slowly. “I also...I didn’t want you to see me like that. I don’t like...I prefer not to shift.” 

I nodded. Shifting into beast form didn’t generally cause a loss of control, but Callahan hadn’t seemed to be wholly in control. And if there was one thing I'd learned about Callahan, he always needed to be in control. The more powerful a shifted form, the harder it was to control, and extinct species lent themselves to be some of the most powerful beast forms. 

We remained silent for the duration of the walk, or rather brisk trot. Merrix had lost a ton of blood and he needed to get stitched up fast before he lost more. The amount of blood was making my head spin and I slowly fell behind Callahan, panting slightly as I tried to stay upright. Callahan glanced back at me every now and again to make sure I hadn’t fallen behind entirely. 

We finally reached the infirmary several minutes later. Callahan entered the room ahead of me. When I reached the doorway, I slouched against it. I hadn’t fed in awhile and I was becoming all to well aware of this fact as the smell of Merrix’s blood weighed down on me. 

I watched with heavily lidded eyes as Callahan brought Merrix to the nurse on duty. The nurse quickly directed him to lay Merrix on one of the beds before setting to work patching him up. He didn’t ask any questions about how Merrix had ended up in this state. Shifters were always brought into the infirmary in a variety of beat up conditions—training sessions weren’t always safe—but I had a feeling Merrix was in a bloodier state than was typical.

Callahan walked over to the doorway and rested a hand on my shoulder. I leaned against him, relying almost entirely on him to keep me upright. 

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, sorry,” I said in a shaky voice. “All the blood...it’s a lot.” 

Callahan nodded. 

“We can go.” 

“Can I, can I stay? Until he wakes up?” I asked, looking up at Callahan. “I need to...I want to talk to him.” 

“Of course,” Callahan said. He helped me over to the bench that stood against the wall to the right of the door. 

I sat down heavily, dropping my head into my hands. I closed my eyes and tried to ignored Merrix’s intoxicating scent. My mouth had started to water somewhere along the line and my throat was constricting with the ache to feed. Callahan went about opening the windows to air out the scent of blood before returning to the bench to sit with me. 

About twenty minutes later, the nurse finished patching Merrix up. He lifted the shifter off the bed and moved him to a clean one. He explained to us that Merrix would most likely wake up within the next hour. 

When the blood soaked linens had been removed from the room and the stench of blood had almost entirely dissipated, I crossed the room to Merrix’s bed. I sat on the edge of the mattress. 

“I’ll wait outside,” Callahan said as he ran his hand over my hair. 

I smiled up at him, grateful that he understood my need for a private conversation with Merrix. 

Almost thirty minutes later and Merrix was slowly blinking his eyes opened. He released a pained groan as his eyes searched the ceiling for a familiar sight, his face twisting into an expression that touched upon panic. I rested my fingers on his arm to catch his attention. He looked over at me quickly. 

“Lu?” he asked in a husky voice.

“Hey,” I said quietly as I retracted my hand to my lap. 

Merrix gritted his teeth and pushed himself into a more upright position. He groaned and his gaze dropped his chest. 

“Fuck,” he muttered. “Your boyfriend really did a number on me.” 

“Sorry.” An embarrassed flush spread over my cheeks. 

“No big. I would have done the same to him if he hadn’t cleaned the floor with my ass,” Merrix said with a bitter laugh. “Who knew he was hiding such an impressive beast form.” 

I shook my head; I certainly hadn’t known. 

Merrix folded his arms gingerly across his chest, careful of his injuries. He stared at me with piercing black eyes. 

“What?” I muttered as I grew uncomfortable under his gaze. 

“You’ve changed,” he said. “You use to never apologize.” 

“Yeah, I’ve been working on that,” I said as a blush crept up my cheeks. 

“Are you and the shifter really dating?” Merrix asked. “Ethan said you two hold hands in public and went on a brunch date.” 

“Uh, yeah, we are.” Embarrassment was making me at the very least feel like I was beat red. I dropped my chin to my chest and stared at the mattress. 

“Cute,” Merrix drawled with a sneer.

“Fuck off,” I snapped.

“That’s more like it,” Merrix said with a laugh.

“Uh, Merrix?” I said hesitantly. “Can I ask you something?” 

Merrix only raised his eyebrows as he gazed at me with a rather derisive expression. I had the feeling he knew what I was going to ask. 

“Why, I mean, when—that is...the collar?” I looked up at the item in question. “When did that happen?” 

“We saw each other last the summer after your first year at the academy, yeah?” Merrix said. “It happened a few months after that.” He raised his hand to his neck and ran his fingers over the leather. 

“Why did he...he’s never collared a guardian before,” I said. 

“First time for everything, I guess.” Merrix shrugged. “You know your dad; he doesn’t need a reason to do something, and he certainly doesn’t need permission.” 

“So you didn’t, you didn’t want him to collar you?” I asked in a low voice. 

“Fuck no,” Merrix sneered. “You think I like being a collared bitch? As if. But like it matters what I want. This is Lord Samarillian we’re talking about after all. It didn’t matter that I tried to fight him off when he was putting it on me; he just broke my arms and legs." Merrix laughed as his hand dropped from the collar. 

“That...god, I’m sorry,” I whispered. 

“It’s fine, Lu,” Merrix said with an edge of annoyance in his voice. “You of all people should know what he’s capable of doing. And I know what he’s even willing to do to his own kid. Remember, I was the one you came crying to after he sliced your fingers off for taking extra desert.” 

I nodded as I stared blankly at the mattress. 

“You should get going,” Merrix said. “Your alpha probably doesn’t love the idea of you being alone with another alpha.” 

“He, he said it’s fine,” I said.  
“Still you can skidaddle,” Merrix said. “I don’t need you throwing a pity party for me.” 

“I didn’t mean—“ But Merrix held up a hand to cut me off. I swallowed, nodded, and rose from the mattress. I turned away and started toward the door. 

“And, Lu?” 

I glanced over my shoulder at Merrix. He was gazing down at his hands, which were folded neatly in his lap. 

“Next time, if there is a next time, don’t stop your alpha. Just let him kill me. I’d rather that.” 

—

Merrix pushed the hotel room door open. He stepped into the entry hall. Gritting his teeth, he shut the door behind himself. His eyes found purchase on the floor. He took a deep breath to steel himself.

Heavy footsteps approached him down the entry hall. He squeezed his eyes shut. A hand gripped his neck as another struck him across the face. Lord Samarillian hit him again, and a third time before hurling him against the wall. 

Merrix grunted and slouched against the wall. He glanced up at the vampire lord who was all but seething in front of him.

“How dare you,” he hissed. “How dare you lose.”

“Ha, my bad,” Merrix muttered, his jaw aching from the blows. 

Lord Samarillian grabbed the ring on his collar and yanked him forward. Merrix stumbled away from the wall and let himself be dragged further into the room. His eyes flickered to Ethan’s bedroom door. It was shut. Merrix could only hope Ethan also had his headphones on so he wouldn’t hear any of this.

Samarillian throwing him forward pulled Merrix’s thoughts from Etan. Merrix tripped, fell, and cracked his skull on the corner of the coffee table. He dropped onto his side with a low groan. 

Samarillian caught his hips and flipped him onto his back. Merrix gripped the table leg and pressed his forearm across his face. Samarillian yanked his pants down. He heard the familiar sound of zipper coming undone. Merrix dug his teeth in his forearm and willed his body to relax. 

Lord Samarillian plunged inside with no preparation and Merrix almost vomited from the pain. His body shuddered and choked on a gasp. He convulsed again and he bit into his arm harder. Fuck, he was definitely going to get hemorrhoids from this, again. Usually he healed within a day, but given the injuries he’d sustained in the fight, it would take longer. God, he probably wouldn’t be able to sit for a week. 

Lord Samarillian was spitting words of blame and derision down at him, but he hardly noticed. He just kept his eyes squeezed shut, tears spilling out of the corners, and focused on the taste of blood in his mouth. It’d be over soon; the lord never lasted that long. 

Suddenly Samarillian grabbed his collar, pulling the tail end free of the buckle. He twisted it harshly to the side, tightening the leather around Merrix’s neck. Merrix choked and his eyes rolled back in his skull. The first few times this had happened, he’d fought back, begging for the lord to release him. Now he just hoped he choked. He blinked his eyes open and stared at Samarillian’s face. The man’s eyes were lowered to watch his cock pound into Merrix. Merrix groaned quietly as the leather bit in hard. Black filtered into the edges of his vision. God, he hoped this was it. 

Lord Samarillian came hard inside of him. He thrust shallowly for a few more moments before pulling out. He got up and left the room. Merrix huffed in mild annoyance as he let his arm slide from his mouth, smearing blood over his face. The least the man could do was fuck him to death. That way he wouldn’t have to deal with the shame of having to get himself off afterward. 

Merrix curled onto his side as he slid his hand over his cock. He hated that he got hard from this. He pushed the pain and thoughts of Samarillian aside as he focused instead on the muted hint of Ethan’s scent that filled the room. 

Merrix came hard over his chest, splattering cum across his bandages. He groaned in annoyance. God, this whole night was turning out to be so fucking annoying. 

He rose shakily to his feet, pulling his pants up as he went. He stumbled to the bedroom door and shoved it open. 

Ethan was sitting on the bed, his head in his hands. He looked up as Merrix tripped inside. He blanched at the sight of the other shifter and made to rise.

“Dont,” Merrix hissed. “Don’t fucking bother. It’s fine.”

Ethan’s face twisted with a myriad of emotion: sadness, anger, and another that Merrix couldn’t quite identify. Merrix shook his head. He didn’t care. He limped to the bathroom. He dropped into the bathtub, clocking his elbow on the side of the tub with a loud bang. He was already in so much pain he hardly noticed the ache. He reached up and flicked on the water, uncaring of what temperature it was set to. Water cascaded out of the shower head over his body. He wondered vaguely if he should close the drain and let himself just slide under the water and drown. Ethan would probably come in before he could attain that luxury.


	38. Chapter Sixteen (NEW!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: may 7th.

”Can I ask you something?” Callahan said as he watched Lucian inspect his third outfit choice of the evening. 

“Yeah,” Lucian said distractedly as he pivoted slowly in front of the mirror. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you were a virgin?” Callahan said. 

Lucian paused his self-assessment and looked up to meet Callahan’s gaze in the reflection. He flushed and shrugged, dropping his gaze to the floor. He rotated slowly on his heel so he was facing Callahan. 

“Didn’t matter,” he mumbled. “And why were you so surprised?” He looked up at Callahan again with a small scowl on his face. 

“The way you phrased everything made it seem like you’d done it before,” Callahan explained. “And it does matter. If I’d known you’d never had sex before, I would have been more careful about not, like, putting it in by accident that time.” He muttered the last few words under his breath out of embarrassment and cast his gaze toward the floor. 

“That time didn’t really count as anything so don’t worry,” Lucian said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “You gotta really fuck for it to count as the first time, so, yeah, yesterday was my first time, but I liked it; it was, it was really good.” He flushed again. “I didn’t wanna make a big deal out of it; I didn’t want _you_ to make a big deal out of it. I mean, you kinda did cause you said, like—but whatever—I just wanted to have sex with someone I like and I wanted it to be good sex.” 

Callahan gazed at him for a moment. He hadn’t intended to say _that_ during sex. It had been rather poorly timed on his part; sex wasn’t a very good time to say you loved someone since it could easily be misconstrued as just loving the sex. But Callahan had meant it and he’d clarified with Lucian that he had. Lucian hadn’t been as upset about the admission as Callahan had expected. Lucian had plenty of emotional hangups and Callahan was slowly getting the hang of navigating them. He was glad that his confession hadn’t sent Lucian into a panic. Sure, he would have liked Lucian to say the same thing to him, but he hadn’t expected him to, and he hadn’t said it in order to trap Lucian into saying something he wasn’t ready for. It would take time, a lot of time, for Lucian to get there. If he ever got there at all. Callahan wasn’t exactly holding his breath, and that hurt, but while he’d been pondering whether his feelings for Lucian were love or not, he’d recognized the fact that Lucian might not ever reciprocate his feelings. That did nothing to stop Callahan from loving Lucian though. 

“Well, I’m glad it was good,” Callahan said with a small smile. 

“Yeah, yeah it was great. No need to act like you deserve a medal,” Lucian grumbled. He stuck his tongue out at Callahan, but as he turned away, Callahan caught a glimpse of a smile in the reflection. 

Lucian marched into the walk in closet and returned a few moments later wearing another outfit on. This one was made of ornate red, gold, and black brocade fabric in the style of a traditional Chinese dress. 

“Can I ask you a question?” Lucian asked as he leaned against the closet door frame. 

“Of course,” Callahan said.  
“Your shifter form,” Lucian began, “it really is a saber tooth tiger, right?” 

“Uh, yeah,” Callahan said slowly as he lowered his gaze to the floor. He shifted slightly on edge of the mattress. “It is.” 

“That’s...I’ve never met someone with an extinct species as their beast form,” Lucian said. 

“Yeah, it’s really rare,” Callahan said with a sigh. He dragged his hand over his face and shook his head. 

“Is it hard to control?” Lucian asked. His voice was laced with hesitance, fearing he was treading on a conversation topic Callahan wished to avoid. Callahan was fine with talking about this, since he was talking with Lucian, and he knew that if he asked Lucian to stop, Lucian would. “Is that why you don’t like to shift?” 

“Yeah,” Callahan murmured. “It’s really hard to control, so if I can deal with a situation without shifting, then I won’t.” 

“It was a little scary,” Lucian said with a small, awkward laugh. 

Callahan blanched and hung his head. 

“Scary, but hot.” 

Callahan lifted his head and stared at Lucian. Lucian was smirking at him, a mischievous glimmer in his yellow eyes. 

“Oh, really?” Callahan said with a small laugh. 

“Yeah,” Lucian said, his grin spreading. He pushed away from the doorframe and crossed to the bed. He hiked up his skirt slightly and knelt on the mattress, straddling Callahan. “I’m pretty sure even if I weren’t marked, I would have fallen over from your sheer alphaness.” He slid his arms slowly around Callahan’s neck and rested his forehead on his. 

“Is that so?” Callahan said as he twined his arms around Lucian’s waist. 

“Mm-hm,” Lucian purred as he rolled his hips down. 

“Baby,” Callahan said, his hands tightening on Lucian’s hips, “we have to leave in five minutes, and we both know you take longer than that to cum.” 

“Then how ‘bout I just suck you off?” Lucian asked with a pout as he nuzzled his face against Callahan’s neck. “I’m really good; you’ll cum in five.”

“Do that and I’m going to want to fuck you into the mattress,” Callahan said. He gripped Lucian’s hips and lifted him up as he rose to his feet. He set Lucian down on the ground. “We should get going, darling.” 

“Fine,” Lucian grumbled. “Lemme just fix my hair.” 

Callahan nodded as he released Lucian’s waist. Lucian headed into the bathroom to do whatever he was doing to his hair. He’d been wearing his hair down ever since Callahan had marked him. _Maybe he was going to add a decorative braid_ , Callahan pondered. He imagined with all the hair he’d had before cutting it Lucian knew how to braid. 

Lucian emerged at that moment, completely shutting down his thought process. Callahan gaped at him. Lucian only smiled and headed for the bedroom door. 

“Are, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Callahan asked as he hurried after Lucian. His eyes were locked on the nape of Lucian’s neck, which was visible given the state of his hair. 

Lucian’s hair was twined in a graceful knot. The high collar of his dress concealed the mark for the most part, but with his height, Callahan could easily glimpse it. 

“It’s fine,” Lucian said with a shrug. “The collar hides it. Only someone who knows it’s there will notice it. Besides—“ Lucian glanced over his shoulder—“I’m a petty bitch and want to rub it in that my father lost.” 

—

I walked slowly into the packed ballroom and glanced around hesitantly. I had felt quite bold leaving the hotel room with my hair in a bun, but now, surrounded by hundreds of shifters and vampires, I felt utterly exposed. I knew strangers wouldn’t be inspecting the base of my neck, but all the same, every time one glanced in my direction I stiffened slightly for fear that they would see the mark. 

My fingers twisted together nervously and my shoulders hunched as I continued looking around the room. I was only here and dressed like this to be petty so I wanted to find my father as soon as possible, rub the mark in his face, and leave.

Callahan, seemingly sensing my distress, rested a hand on the small of my back. He leaned down slightly. 

“Let’s walk around,” he murmured. 

I glanced up at him and he nodded reassuringly. I smiled and pushed into the crowd. We meandered through the ballroom, pausing every now and again for me to share greetings with other vampires. 

After almost ten minutes of wandering, I spotted Ethan through a parting in the crowd. He stood with his hands in the pockets of his blazer. His shoulders were stiff and I knew him well enough to recognize the repeated tightening and loosening of his jaw as a sign of anxiety. He wasn’t usually one to be anxious in a crowd. I had a felling the emotion derived from the state of my relationship with my father.

Pushing these thoughts aside, I moved in Ethan’s direction. Where he was my father certainly was as well. 

Sure enough, as I approached Ethan, I caught sight of my father standing just beyond him. He was just finishing up a conversation with another vampire as I reached him. Ethan glanced down at me as I arrived. His expression didn’t change and his eyes only rested on me for a second before looking past me to where Callahan stood. 

My father bid the vampire he was speaking with a good night before turning and finding me within a pace of him. He started as his eyes fell on me. I smirked slightly. 

“Good morning,” I said with a smile as I laced my fingers behind my back. I cocked my head slightly to the side. “How are—“ 

“Why the fuck are you wearing your hair up?” my father hissed as he took a quick step toward me. 

“I like it up,” I said. “It goes well with the outfit.” I spun on my heel to give him a three-sixty view of the outfit.

“Someone is going to see _it_ ,” my father said, as I completed my spin to face him.

“God, no one’s seen it,” I said, waving my hand dismissively. “You really need to relax.” 

“Lucian’s right, Adler,” a soft, feminine voice interrupted us. “You really do need to relax.”

My body shuddered, my throat clenching around panic. I took a harsh step back, slamming into Callahan, whose hand flashed out and gripped my hip. My eyes snapped away from my father’s face to meet the eyes of the woman who had just emerged from the crowd. 

Thick black hair was piled high on her head, exposing a pale, thin neck that dipped below a pale blue, chiffon dress. Her eyes were same dark color of her hair. A small smile curled her red lips. 

“M-Mom?” I stuttered.

“Hello Lucian,” my mother said with a smile. Her gaze shifted to my father. 

“I’m glad you made it, Eliandra,” my father said. He leaned forward and kissed my mother lightly on the cheek. 

My mother’s lips pinched together disdainfully, but she allowed the greeting.

“What, what are you doing here?” I asked in a low voice

“I have business in the States,” my mother explained. “I’m simply passing through.” 

“But why _here_?” I asked. 

“It’s so nice to see you too, Lucian,” my mother said disparagingly. She turned her attention to my father. “What’s gotten you into a tizzy this time?” she asked. “You’re going to make a scene if you don’t relax.” 

My father cast a harsh glare in my direction. I folded my arms and glared back at him. 

“Lucian decided it was necessary to get himself—“  
“No,” I hissed, lunging forward with the hopes of slamming my hand over my father’s mouth. Ethan’s arm intercepted me. I grabbed it and dug my nails into his arm.  
“Marked,” my father continued, sneering at my attempt to interrupt him, “by his shifter.” 

My mother’s eyes widened in surprise as she glanced between me and Callahan. I looked over my shoulder as I stepped away from Ethan. He probably hadn’t loved the fact that I had grabbed Ethan’s arm. At least Ethan hadn’t grabbed me first. Callahan’s gaze was averted from us and his cheeks were slightly red. 

“Oh, is that so?” my mother murmured. She stepped forward and slid her fingers over my throat. She twined her long fingers over the back of my neck. 

I stiffened as her fingers pressed against the mark. Callahan folded his arms, his hands clenching his biceps. He continued to keep his gaze on the floor a few feet away from us. 

“You whore,” my mother murmured in my ear. There was no anger in her voice, rather a tone of matter-a-factness. “What could have possibly possessed you to become a heat bitch for a shifter?” 

“F-back off,” I snapped. I stepped away from her and she released me. “You don’t get to come back here after all these years and shit all over my choices. If you’d stuck around to be my mother, then you’d have the right to lecture me.” 

“I suppose you’re right,” she said, and gave a quiet laugh. “It seems we have quite a bit of catching up to do. Adler—“ she looked back at my father— “could I borrow Lucian for a bit?” 

“Please do,” my father growled. “I’m not in the mood to see his face for the rest of the morning.” 

He turned and marched away into the crowd. He was certainly the parent I had inherited my tendency for temper tantrums from. Ethan followed after him.

“Follow me,” my mother said. She turned on her heel and moved away into the crowd. A slender, dark-haired shifter peeled away from the crowd and fell into step behind my mother. She glanced over her shoulder. Dark orange irises glowed as she looked between me and Callahan, before returning her gaze to my mother’s back. 

I sighed quietly and set out after the pair with Callahan trailing behind me. I had no idea what my mother wanted to catch up on. She’d spent the last fifteen years halfway across the world from me so she had approximately everything to catch up on. All the same I was a little curious—and a little desperately hopeful that after all this time she’d decided she wanted to be a part of my life. Despite how much she’d made me hate myself, I’d welcome her back into my life with open arms. 

My mother led us through the halls to a small office-library. She walked inside. Her shifter stopped just inside the door and leaned back against the wall. Callahan followed suite on the opposite side of the door.

I took a few more paces inside. I glanced awkwardly around the room from the couches to the desk my mother had perched on, wondering if I should take a seat on the former. After a moment of hesitation, I walked slowly over to the arm of the couch closest to her and sat down on it. She stared down at me silently for an excruciatingly long minute. Finally her eyes flickered away from me. 

“You didn’t tell me you’d marked him,” she said. 

My head snapped around so fast my neck popped. Callahan’s gaze was rooted on the floor, his hands tightened into fists. His face was a mask of horror and confusion. 

“What?” I whispered. “Why would he...why would Cal...?” 

“He’s been keeping tabs on you for me,” my mother explained. “I guess he decided to leave out some rather crucial details though.” 

“Lucian,” Callahan said in a tight voice, “I had no idea it was her—it was your mother, I swear.” A desperate tinge entered his voice on the last word and he lifted his gaze to meet mine. 

“You, you’ve been _spying_ on me,” I said as I slid off the couch and rotated slowly to face him. 

“Why do you think he knew that you can’t drink human blood?” my mother asked. “I informed him of that little fact to give him an in with you.” 

“She’s joking, right, Cal? You’re both joking. This is just—this isn’t—“ I shook my head desperately. 

“I didn’t know I was talking to your mother, Lu, I swear,” Callahan said. “Yes, she told me about the blood aversion, so I’d have a way to talk to you—” 

“A way to talk to me!” I interjected loudly. “You used that fact to make me dependent on your blood so I’d keep coming back to you!” 

“That’s not—“ Callahan gritted his teeth and looked away. His shoulders hunched slightly. “Yes,” he breathed. 

“What the fuck else have you been lying about? Do you even like me? Did you just mark me for _her_ sake?” 

“Oh, believe me, I did not ask for the mark,” my mother practically purred. “In fact, I would much prefer he hadn’t marked you. I’ll have to remedy that fact,” she whispered. 

I started to turn around, but suddenly her hand pinned against the back of my neck. I gasped as her other hand slammed into the back of my head, shoving my chin against my chest. 

“Take your hands off him!” Callahan yelled.

“Be quiet; I need to focus,” my mother murmured. 

I tried to jerk forward but suddenly the sickening sensation of fingers slipping _inside_ my skull filled me. I gasped, a mew of panic slipping out of my lips, and a long shudder rushed over me. The fingers slithered through my mind before latching onto _something._

I screamed. Callahan cried out and I heard a loud thump as he dropped to the floor. The hand on my mind yanked on... _the mark_ , I realized. On that immaterial bond that connected my mind to Callahan’s. I sobbed as pain ricocheted inside my skull. My mother’s grip tightened both inside and outside my head. 

“This is going to hurt,” my mother murmured and she ripped the mark out of my skull. 

I screeched and blood splattered out of my mouth and over my face. I fell to my knees. Blood poured out of my nose, my ears, my eyes. I choked on the liquid. A red film filled my vision. I fell face first onto the floor. I could hear Callahan yelling, but I couldn’t make out if he was even saying words. Pain was splitting my skull open. It felt as if a gaping hole had been gouged into my mind. Through the sickening pain, I realized the comforting sensation of assurance that had been there in the back of my mind for so long was gone. The mark was gone; Callahan was gone.


	39. Chapter Seventeen (NEW!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've been asked a few times on different platforms - blood bound extended edition is still available! you can message me on ig (kitsvnebi) for more information.
> 
> EDIT: may 7th.

”What did you do?” Callahan worked out between desperate, painful breaths. He pushed up onto his elbows and glared up at Lucian’s mother. His head throbbed, but the agony had died down. A shudder ran down his spine at the memory of Lucian’s pained scream. He’d heard the vampire cry out in pain before, but this, this had been different. He’d _felt_ Lucian’s scream more than anything else, and then for a brief moment he’d felt nothing. And then his own pain had rushed over him. 

His eyes fell to Lucian’s motionless floor. He lay in a heap in a puddle of his own blood at Eliandra’s feet. 

“I broke the bond,” Eliandra said simply. She stepped back to the desk and leaned against it. 

“You had no fucking right,” Callahan snapped as he surged to his feet. He gasped and swayed slightly as his head spun. He reached out and caught the back of the couch for balance. “And how the hell did you do that anyway?” 

“I’m an empath,” Eliandra explained, resting her elegantly long fingers on her chest. “It’s easy for me to slip inside someone’s head to read their emotions. Though breaking that mark was a little tough on me.” Eliandra sighed in faux exhaustion. 

Callahan growled quietly. He knew of several empaths, including Eve Pryer. Empathy powers were tied closely to necromancy since they both dealt with the mind. Oftentimes empathy powers were conflated with necromancy, which gave them something of a bad rap. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you’d marked him?” Eliandra asked. “The deal was you’d tell me everything about Lucian.” 

“The deal,” Callahan gritted out, “was I would tell you everything regarding Lucian’s blood frenzies. Nothing else was relevant. Speaking of the deal, why the hell did you tell him about it?” Callahan marched forward across the room. His eyes were rooted on Eliandra, but he dropped to the floor by Lucian. He let his glowing yellow eyes pierce her for a moment longer before looking down at Lucian. 

“Because I wanted to,” Eliandra replied. 

Callahan gritted his teeth, but he didn’t respond. Carefully, he lifted Lucian into his arms. Lucian was breathing shallowly. His face was pale and streaked with blood. For Callahan there were few things quite as horrifying as watching blood pour out Lucian's eyes as he fell to his knees. 

Callahan had little doubt Eliandra had wanted to tell Lucian about the deal in the most painful way possible so as to make Lucian hate him. Callahan’s mouth twitched in a frown at the thought as he slowly stood up with Lucian cradled against his chest. 

“You’re lucky,” Callahan said in a low voice, “that we do have a deal, or else I’d kill you for hurting him.” 

“How chivalrous,” Eliandra smirked.  
Callahan glared at her for a moment before spinning on his heel. Eliandra’s shifter was staring at him from the door with unblinking orange eyes. Callahan ignored her as he left the room. He tilted Lucian’s face against his chest as he moved quickly down the hallway. He kept to the back halls until he located a service elevator. He could only hope he wouldn’t run into any vampires who would be able to smell Lucian’s blood. 

It took almost ten minutes to reach their room, but Callahan was finally pushing the door open. He brought Lucian to his room and laid him carefully down on the bed. Fetching a damp washcloth from the bathroom, Callahan returned to the bedside and cleaned off Lucian’s face. Lucian stirred slightly as he worked, issuing a small mew of pain. Callahan grimaced. His own head still ached from the breaking of the mark, but if Lucian's scream of pain as well as the blood was anything to go by, Lucian had had it much worse off than he. 

Callahan gritted his teeth, his hands balling into fists, as he thought of Eliandra rooting around in Lucian’s mind. She had no right, absolutely _no_ right to touch Lucian like that; to get inside his head and rip away a part of his mind. Callahan knew Lucian had had misgivings about the mark, but for it to be so brutally ripped away from him—Callahan doubted Lucian would have asked for that. 

He rubbed his forehead and sighed quietly. The pain in his mind originated from a tender, throbbing point in the back of his skull. It really did feel like something had been ripped away from him. The mark had just started setting in completely and he’d been able to sense to an extent Lucian’s emotions. Now, those were gone completely, along with the comfort of their presence. 

Callahan reached out and rested his hand over Lucian’s to remind himself that the vampire was still there. 

Lucian deserved better than to find out about the deal with Eliandra that way. If Callahan had known he was spying on Lucian for the sake of his mother, he never would have gone through with the deal. As it was, he shouldn’t have made the deal at all. At first, when he hadn’t known Lucian, it had been easy to spy on him, but as time had passed and he’d grown more attached to the vampire, it had become harder and harder to give Eliandra new information. He’d left out so much: the bond, his feelings for Lucian, the mark. He’d only told Eliandra about the blood frenzies, since that was what Eliandra wanted to know about. 

Lucian had been right in saying that Callahan had used his aversion toward human blood to make him dependent on Callahan. Callahan _had_ manipulated Lucian; there was no working around that fact. He had a lot he needed to own up to and apologize for. He’d wanted to do that on his own terms, not Eliandra’s. 

He lifted his eyes and stared at Lucian. He had no doubt that Lucian would hate him for this, but he could only hope he’d be given a chance to explain everything, especially why. 

—

I woke to excruciating pain stabbing my cranium. I cried out weakly and nausea rippled through my stomach. I curled onto my side with a soft gasp. The comforting softness of a mattress and comforter enveloped me. I sighed and blinked my eyes open. 

“Lu, you’re awake.” Callahan’s voice washed over me. His hand rested on mine.

I gasped, jerked upright, and slammed my head against the headboard.

“Fuck,” I yelped.

“Lu.” Callahan’s grip tightened on my hand. 

“Don’t fucking touch me!” I screeched, lashing out and knocking his hand aside. My vision cleared of pain and my eyes found him at last. 

Callahan was staring at me with wide eyes, his face a twist of shock, concern, and blatant, palpable guilt.

“Don’t touch me,” I whispered as I curled up against the headboard. My skull pulsed and I hissed in pain. 

“You’re in pain?” Callahan murmured. 

“No shit!” I yelled at him. There weren’t words to describe the pain in my cranium. My body shuddered and a wave of nausea crashed over me. I whimpered and shook my head. I could still feeling Eliandra’s fingers creeping around inside my mind. I whined at the thought and pressed my hand against my forehead. 

“Lucian, what can I do to help?” Callahan asked quietly. 

God, Callahan’s voice. It was so comforting, familiar, and yet I felt ill at the sound of it. Why, why—fuck, that was right. My mother had said and he’d confirmed… 

“You were spying on me,” I whispered. “For _her_.” 

“Lucian, I swear, I didn’t know it was for her,” Callahan murmured, “but, yes, I was. I’m so s—“ 

“Get out.” 

“Lu—“ 

“ _Get the fuck out!”_ I screamed. My head snapped back and I glared at Callahan with all the ferocity of my bloodline. 

Callahan stood up from the edge of the mattress immediately. His eyes were wide as he stared down at. 

“Lucian,” he breathed. 

“I don’t ever want to see your face again,” I whispered. "The mark's broken; the deal's off. You're not my guardian anymore." My body was shaking from head to toe from anger as well as agonizing pain in my skull. My vision swayed and my mouth watered with the telltale sign that I was going to puke. “I see you again; I’ll fucking kill you,” I hissed. 

Callahan gritted his teeth. He nodded, turned, and left the room. 

My body spasmed and I flung myself to the edge of the bed. I vomited all over the floor. Blood-stained puke splattered over the floor. My head swam as my shoulders heaved. When I had emptied the contents of my stomach, I dropped back onto the pillows. My hand reached out weakly and I picked up my phone from the bedside table where I’d left it. I scrolled through my short list of contacts until I found Sam’s number. I pressed the call button and lay the phone against my ear. Sam picked up after the fifth ring. 

“Yo, Lu, wassup?” she said.  
“Sam, can you come here?” I whispered weakly. 

“Lu, what’s up? You good?” Sam asked, a tone of urgency in her voice. 

“No, bad.” 

“Where’s Cal—“ 

“Shut up,” I snapped. A stab of pain shot through my skull. “Fuck. Sorry. Just can you come to my room? I’ll call the front desk to let them give you a key.” 

“Yeah, totally. I’m on my way. Hang in there, Lucian.” Sam hung up.  
I pushed up onto my elbows once more and grabbed the hotel phone. Once I had called down to the front desk to request a room key for Sam, I flopped back against the pillows and closed my eyes. With the throbbing in my skull at just a dull ache and the nausea gone for the most part, I could focus on my thoughts, which were an utter and complete mess. I could barely work my head around what had happened. The simpler of the two events was the fact that Eliandra had broken the mark. As an empath, I wasn’t surprised that she had been capable of this. Plenty of empaths could root around inside someone’s skull and manipulate their feelings. It didn’t come as much of a shock that one could destroy a more or less physical manifestation of a mark. I should have probably thought of this option when I'd been considering breaking the mark. I could have gone to Eve Pryer; she would have helped break the mark, and been gentle about it. My mother had been far from gentle. 

So that was pretty straight forward and while I still had to figure out how I felt about the breaking of the mark, there were something more pressing to focus on: the fact that Callahan had been spying on me for my mother’s sake. 

What had he told her? What hadn’t he told her? He hadn’t told her about the mark, but had he told her I’d confessed to liking him? That we’d slept together? This thought made me want to puke again. The fact that he’d manipulated me using my aversion for blood didn’t leave me much better off. My stomach twisted around itself and my throat closed up as tears prickled my eyes. 

Callahan had lied to me. 

He’d manipulated me. 

He’d spied on me. 

Of all people, of all the fucking people I never would have expected this from him. I’d liked him, really truly liked him in that fluffy stupid romantic way and it didn’t matter now if that had just been the mark, that was how I’d felt and it had felt so real. And he’d said he’d loved me and how fucking real was that? Had that just been another thing he’d lied about? 

A harsh sob broke into my thoughts and I realized I was crying, utterly and completely bawling. My shoulders shook and tears streamed down my face. I gasped for breath, my heartbeat panicking in my chest. 

“Lucian, Lucian!” 

My eyes sprang open and I looked up. Sam rushed across the room and dropped onto the bed beside me. 

“Hey, hey, you’re okay,” she said as she caught my shoulder. “Just breath, Lu, just breath.” 

I sobbed again. Sam hushed me gently as she stroked my cheeks. I took a steadying breath. 

“Good,” Sam murmured. “That’s it.” 

Slowly but surely Sam helped me steady my breathing. When I had it under control, I sat up slowly and rubbed my hands over my face. 

“Fuck, my head,” I muttered. Pain had built up behind my eyes as I’d cried. I groaned quietly. 

“Lucian, what’s wrong? What happened?” Sam asked as she glanced between me and the pool of vomit on the floor. 

I just shook my head and wrapped my arms around her neck. She stiffened slightly, but didn’t protest. I pressed my face into the side of her neck and breathed in deeply. Her comforting scent washed over me. Sam lifted me carefully off the bed. 

“Here, let’s get out of here,” she said. “Smells like puke.” She carried me out of bedroom, kicking the door shut behind us, and took me to the couch. She set me down carefully. 

“Lu, I know things are rough right now, but I don’t think clinging to me’s such a good idea,” Sam said as she carefully extricated herself from my grip.

My face fell. I reached out for her automatically, but she gently caught my wrists. 

“What’s the deal, Lu? Are you feeling needy for an alpha?” She said it kindly with no judgement, but I still flushed with embarrassment and a wave of realization that that was exactly what was happening washed over me. 

“Oh,” I murmured. I slid my hands free of hers and scooted back on the couch a bit. “That’s probably…yeah.” 

“What happened, Lucian? Where’s Cal?” 

A flash of anger shot through me, accompanied by an excruciating stab of pain. I gasped and caught my head in my hands. 

“Here,” Sam said. 

I glanced up and watched as she picked up a cup of water and a handful of pills off the coffee table. I frowned as I looked between the objects. Callahan. He’d definitely set those out for me. 

“Don’t want ‘em,” I grumbled as I folded my arms stoically. 

“Lu, don’t be a baby and take the meds,” Sam said sternly. “You’re obviously in a shitload of pain.” 

I sighed. I wasn’t in a shitload of pain right now—that had been before—but things weren’t all that peachy, and if getting pissed would prompt more pain, I’d need all the pain killers I could get my hands on because, fuck, I was livid. 

I took the meds from Sam as well as the glass. Tossing the pills into my mouth, I took a long swig and swallowed hard. I cringed slightly at the sensation of the pills slipping down my throat. 

“So,” Sam said, “fill me in?” 

“My mother,” I said slowly, “she’s an empath. She, she broke the mark.” 

“What?” Sam whispered. 

“She just went inside,” I continued, running my fingers over my hair. I clenched the back of my head and shuddered. “She went inside and ripped the mark out.” 

“Is that why Cal—“ she said his name hesitantly for fear of my reaction, but I only closed my eyes and grimaced—“isn’t here?” 

“No,” I whispered. “He’s not here because...because he was spying on me for her.” 

Sam opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her face was a mixture of shock and confusion. She shook her head slowly. 

“My mother told me and then he, he confirmed it.” I drew my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. 

“Why?” Sam asked, her voice low. 

“I don’t know; they had some sort of deal? I didn’t, I didn’t let Callahan explain.” I rested my chin on my knees. Maybe I should have let Callahan explain. Maybe he had a good enough reason that all this hurt and betrayal choking my chest would just vanish. I swallowed a small whimper and shook my head. There was no way that was possible. 

“I’m so sorry, Lu,” Sam said slowly. “That’s really, truly awful.”  
“I don’t, I don’t know what do,” I whispered. Everything had made sense before, when Callahan had been here, when we'd had the mark. Now that was gone and so was he, and my head was killing me. 

“First things first I think you should get some rest,” Sam said. “Your mother clearly did a number on you breaking the mark. You look really pale.” Sam reached out and brushed her hand over my forehead. “You’re clammy too. Do you need to feed?” 

“No,” I snapped, wholly more aggressively than Sam deserved. “Sorry,” I mumbled. 

“That’s okay,” Sam said with a small smile. “You know what you need in that department better than I do. But you should get some sleep. Hopefully the headache will dissipate.” 

“Thanks,” I said with a nod. “And, um, Sam?” 

“Yeah?” she said. 

“I don’t...I kinda don’t have a guardian anymore,” I mumbled under my breath. 

“Oh, shit,” Sam murmured, her eyes going wide. “You, like, fired him?” 

I nodded. 

“Do you think you could help me out for a bit?” I asked hesitantly. I glanced up at her out of the corner of her eye. 

“You don’t know?” Sam said, cocking her head slightly. “I’m not actually a guardian; I never took the exam. I’m just high ranking at the academy.” 

“What? For real?” 

“Yeah,” Sam said with a laugh. “People make that confusion a lot. I never took the exam because no way in hell am I reliving killing my twin.” Sam gave another laugh, this one traced with bitterness. 

“Oh, right, sorry,” I mumbled, flushing. 

“No, don’t worry about it,” Sam said quickly. “I can still be your bodyguard, but you wouldn’t officially have a guardian.” 

“That’s fine,” I said with a shake of my head. “I don’t need one.” My voice twisted with anger and petulance. 

“Let’s get you in bed,” Sam said. “I’ll get the housekeepers up here to clean up that room.” She jerked her thumb in the direction of my room. 

I looked over the back of the couch toward the other bedroom, Callahan’s. It would smell like him in there. My stomach twisted and I shook my head. 

“I’ll just sleep on the couch.” 

“Okay,” Sam said. “I’ll get you a blanket.” She stood up and I immediately flopped across the couch cushions. She smiled down at me and patted my hair. “You’ve had it rough, Lu. Hang in there okay?” 

I nodded as I settled my head against the couch pillow. I grimaced at its lumpy discomfort. Sam went to my room. She returned with a blanket and pillow. After she helped me get settled on the couch, she called down to the front desk to get housekeeping up here. I drifted in and out of sleep as she puttered around the living room doing who knew what. The housekeepers soon arrived, or maybe not soon; I had no real idea of time lost as I was in the twilight of partial sleep. 

Eventually Sam asked me if I wanted to stay on the couch or if I wanted her to carry me into the bedroom. I must have mumbled something about the latter because she ended up picking me up and carrying me there. She set me down gently on the mound of pillows and tucked me in. At long last I drifted into slumber, escaping both the dull ache in my skull and my jumble of thoughts  regarding this whole awful morning.


	40. Announcement

Hey all. Just wanted to give a heads up: I reworked the last few chapters so if you've read the story with the version that has lu's dad going into a frenzy please reread things! The chapter where Lucian goes to the party and leaves for Merrix is coming next I just have to edit it a bit more, but my computer is about to die rn. Thanks for bearing with me!


	41. Chapter Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the party chapter, reworked slightly  
> this is the last one that needed reworking so next chapter will be completely brand new!
> 
> another thing i'm reworking is the role of empaths in the world. there's going to be an extended edition for the second arc as well and it will include empaths having roles in things like the guardian exam

I straddled a balcony railing, my ankles hooked around a baluster, as I gazed down at the courtyard below me. The thunderous sound of a bass filled the air. Colorful lights pulsated over the throbbing crowd in the courtyard. This was probably the last place I needed to be what with my newfound tendency for agonizing headaches, but here I was anyway. The excessively loud, bass-boosted music helped drown out all coherent thought, and I had downed several painkillers before coming to the party. Pairing the pills with a cup of unknown alcohol probably wasn’t the smartest idea but I couldn’t bring myself to care. Maybe I’d get blackout drunk. That would certainly aid in my endeavor to forget yesterday morning. 

I didn’t actually know who was throwing this party, I realized, as I gazed down at the mosh pit beneath me. Sam had been the one to invite me, figuring I could use a good distraction. She’d been with me a few minutes ago, up here on the balcony, before saying something about Vanessa arriving and running off to find her. 

I was rather grateful that Sam had hurried off. She’d been trying to get me to engage in small talk all night. I felt a bit bad for not talking to her, but I honestly couldn’t bring myself to utter a single syllable. 

When I’d woken up, I’d found Sam in the living room, playing a game on her phone. A tray of food was set out on the coffee table in front of her, and she’d explained she’d ordered me room service. She’d made a valiant effort at conversation over breakfast and I’d been completely non-responsive. Eventually she’d given up and turned on the TV and we spent the reminder of the night binge watching shows. 

When dinner time had rolled around, Sam ordered us food again and she invited me to this party over the meal, which she had devoured and I had just stared at it. I’d shrugged, muttered a sure, and before I knew it I was here watching shifters and vampires gyrating to the beat as a pulsing rainbow of lights washed over them. 

There was something oddly peaceful about watching the controlled chaos beneath me. I found myself with the strange desire to tip myself off the railing and plunge into the pit of thrashing bodies beneath me, but I’d told Sam I’d stay put, and I didn’t want her feeling like she sucked at looking after me because I’d decided I needed to go crowd surfing. 

“Hey, Lucian.” 

I looked around at the sound of my name. Luke stood a few feet away from me with a small smile on his face and red solo cup in his hand. My vision skewed slightly and blurred at the edges. 

“‘Sup,” I slurred. I was definitely feeling my cocktail of pain meds and alcohol. I hadn’t noticed my vision was so impaired since I’d been staring at the mess of a mosh pit. I raised my cup to my lips, but Luke reached out and rested his fingers on the lid. 

“Maybe slow down,” he said with a laugh. “You look totally trashed.” 

“‘m fine,” I muttered, but I brought the cup to rest once more between my legs on the rail. 

Luke grinned as he perched beside me. 

“Really? Because you look like you’re going to fall off the rail,” Luke said as he rested his hand on my knee. 

“Wouldn’t mind that,” I said with a small sigh. 

“Lulu, is everything good?” Luke asked. “I saw Cal tonight and, well, he wasn’t with you.” 

“If you tell me he was with my mother, I’ll fling myself off this fucking railing,” I growled. 

“Then I won’t tell you that,” Luke said with a nod. “What happened, Lulu?” 

“Nothing,” I muttered. My head ached dully as if I needed reminding that that was a blatant fib. “He’s just not my guardian anymore.” 

“That’s not nothing, Lucian,” Luke said. 

“It’s complicated.” I shook my head. “I don’t want to talk about it.” 

“I’m here for you if you ever do want to.” 

“Why?” I said, a touch more petulantly than I had intended. “I thought you were Callahan’s friend first. You’re both shifters after all.” 

“Both of you are my friends,” Luke said. “There’s no first or second friend. I’m just getting the chance to talk to you first, that’s all. But if you don’t want to talk, you absolutely don’t have to.” 

“Long and short of it,” I said with a heavy sigh, “is that we broke up.”

“I’m sorry,” Luke said quietly, his voice almost lost in the pounding music. “That really sucks.” 

“Yeah it does, hence the this.” I lifted my cup, promptly lost all motor skills, and dropped it into the courtyard below. “Oh, yup, that proves my point.” 

The cup landed squarely on some guy’s head, sloshing liquid all over him. His head snapped back and he glared up at us. He yelled something, probably a cuss given he was also flipping us off. I only waved at him. Luke snorted with laughter. I sighed and leaned back against the column behind me. 

“Once you sober up a bit, you can have some of mine,” Luke said, tilting his cup toward me before taking a sip. 

“Or you could just give it to me now.” 

“Sam sent me up here to keep an eye on you and watching you get black out drunk probably wasn’t what she had in mind,” Luke explained. 

“Oh, cool,” I said slowly. I was quite enjoying the fact that my mind didn’t feel wholly anchored in my skull currently. The sensation wasn’t accompanied by pain which was surprising but not at all unwelcome. It seemed my home remedy of pain meds and alcohol had done the trick. “Is she off fucking Ness?” I asked. 

Luke coughed and quickly pulled his cup away from his lips. He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. 

“Ah, ha, maybe?” he said with an embarrassed laugh. 

“Lucky them,” I muttered. I pressed my hand over my eyes as my lips twisted. A distressed mew bubbled up in the back of my throat. “This party sucks,” I said, my voice breaking slightly. “I wanna go home.” 

“I’m sorry, Lulu,” Luke said, patting my knee. “Let me walk you back to your room.” 

I nodded and sniffled quietly. I swung my leg over the railing. Luke put his hand on my shoulder to keep me from pitching backward as I pushed to my feet. I wobbled slightly as I stood up, but Luke continued to support me. 

“Sup guys!” Sam’s joyful voice reached us over the music. 

I looked up and found her and Vanessa walking toward us. Sam had an arm draped over Vanessa’s shoulder. When the pair came to a halt a few paces from us, Sam dropped her weight onto the other shifter and tucked her chin on her shoulder. Vanessa rolled her eyes. 

“Where you guys going?” Sam asked.

“Lucian wants to head back to his room,” Luke explained. 

Vanessa was watching me expressionlessly. I flushed under the stare and dropped my gaze to the floor. 

“Aw, already?” Sam pouted. “You don’t want to go down and dance?” 

I shook my head. 

“Alright,” Sam said. “I’ll take you back to your room.” 

“It’s fine,” I said. “You can stay. You were excited about the party.” 

“I’d be a shit bodyguard if I let you leave on your own,” Sam said. “Probably already a shitty one for leaving you up here,” she mused. 

“You’re Lucian’s bodyguard now?” Vanessa asked as she glanced between the two of us. 

“Yeah,” Sam said, “‘cause, you know.” She shrugged.

“You should have a guardian watching you,” Vanessa said as she looked over at me. 

“Well I wasn’t gonna ask you,” I said with a slight sneer. “You’re, like, Callahan’s best friend. I don’t even wanna talk to you.” I pulled away from Luke and marched past Vanessa and Sam. “I’m leaving. I don’t care who the fuck comes with me. You can all fucking stay.” I snatched Luke’s drink from his hand and plowed toward the steps. I took to making a graceless decent. I didn’t fall, which was something of a miracle. I stumbled out of the stairwell. I pushed into the crowd in the direction of the exit, hopefully. My head was become a throbbing mess. The pulsing lights and pounding music aided profoundly in disorienting me. 

A hand rested on my elbow. I growled, spinning around and spitting out words angrily as I went: “I can walk back to my room myself, alright Sam?” 

Merrix stared down at me with a bemused grin on his face. The colorful array of lights reflected off his dark eyes. He had on a turtleneck that concealed his collar. A deep purple bruise marred his forehead. As far as I could remember, he hadn’t sustained that injury during the fight with Callahan. 

“You okay?” Merrix called to me over the thunderous base. 

“Peachy,” I yelled back at him. I made to turn away, but Merrix continued to grip my elbow. 

“You look shit faced, Lu,” he said.

“Good,” I said, waving Luke’s drink at him, “that’s the point.”  
“Lucian!” 

I groaned loudly as I heard Sam call out to me. She broke out of the crowd and moved up beside me and Merrix. 

“Don’t go running off like that,” she scolded.

“I can get back to my room by myself.” I glowered at Sam. 

“Probably not; you almost fell down the stairs,” Sam said, gesturing to the offending architecture behind her. 

“Fucking.” I sighed. “Fine. Merrix walk me back.”

“I can,” Sam began.

“It’s fine Sam; stay with Vanessa.”

“Maybe I want to stay at the party too,” Merrix said with a faux pout. 

“Shut up and walk me back to my room.” 

“Yessir,” Merrix said, giving me a mocking salute. 

“I’ll text you tomorrow, Sam,” I said, glancing back to the shifter. “You were really excited about this party; you should stay.” 

“Get him back safely,” Sam said, rounding on Merrix. “And don’t try anything.” The last words were spoken in a low, threatening voice. 

“I wouldn’t dare,” Merrix said, but the mocking gleam was still in his eyes. He slid his hand over the small of my back and urged me in the direction of the exit. He kept his hand on me as we made our way through the undulating crowd, but as soon as we broke out into the empty corridor, he dropped his hand. 

I set out down the hall at a slightly uneven pass. Oddly enough I felt even more dizzy away from the music and lights. I rested my fingertips on the wall to steady myself. I could feel Merrix watching me, but I ignored him, for now. I was pissed and in the mood to yell at someone. I would have felt bad yelling at Sam, but I didn’t care about losing my temper on Merrix. 

After a few minutes, we reached the elevator bay and I slammed my thumb against the call button. 

“Did you enjoy the party?” Merrix asked as he plucked my cup from my hand. 

“Hey,” I snapped. I reached for the cup, but Merrix caught my hand in his. 

He tugged my arm down, making me stumble against his side. He grinned at me before taking a swig from the cup. 

“Well, enjoyable?” he asked again. 

“It fucking sucked.” 

The elevator arrived at that moment. I pulled away from Merrix, or at least tried too. He continued holding my hand. I glared at him as I stalked into the elevator. 

“I was having a grand time,” Merrix said, tossing the empty solo cup out of the elevator, “until a spoiled brat dragged me off.” 

“Fuck you.” I glowered up at him, but my hand remained oddly relaxed in his. Merrix was a prick on a good day—and sometimes scared me more than a little with his psychotic expressions—but he was a familiar prick and there was something comforting in that. 

“If you want,” he said with a wink. 

I flushed and looked away hurriedly. Any thought of Merrix in that sort of situation only brought along thoughts of my father, and the last thing my mood needed right now was to think about those two in that sort of context. 

The elevator reached my floor a few minutes later. I shoved through the sliding doors as soon as they had parted enough, dragging Merrix along behind me. 

“Lu?” Merrix asked as we reached my door. “Why was Callahan with your mother?” 

“Because fuck me that’s why,” I grumbled. I slammed my hip against the key pad. The door unlocked and I shoved it open. I yanked my hand out of Merrix’s and marched into the room. I made my way to the kitchenette and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. When I returned to the living room, I found Merrix perched on the arm of the couch. His head was cocked to the side and he was smiling at me. I glared at him as I leaned back against the wall and took a swig of water. 

“What happened between you two?” Merrix asked. 

“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” I snapped. 

“Probably because you don’t seem to be doing too hot,” Merrix said. “You look like shit, Lu.” 

“You don’t look too good yourself, fuckface,” I shot back at him. That was a lie; he looked as hot as ever in his psychopathic sort of way. 

“You wore jeans and a t-shirt to a party, Lucian,” Merrix said with a sigh. “No makeup, and you look high as fuck.” 

“Probably ‘cause I am, genius,” I said. “Pain meds and alcohol will do that to you.” 

“What’s with that?” Merrix snorted. “Self-medicating because Callahan dumped you for your mom?” 

I snarled, hurled the water bottle aside, and stormed across the room. Merrix’s breath caught audibly in his throat and he fell back on the couch. He scrambled back over the cushions, his face contorted in fear. I froze, my eyes widening as I took in the expression. 

“F-fuck,” I whispered. “I’m sorry.” I took a hasty step back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.” 

“I-it’s fine,” Merrix stuttered. His hands were gripping the arm of the couch behind with white-knuckle intensity. “It’s nothing; it’s fine.” His cheeks were heating up and he quickly averted his gaze. 

“‘m sorry,” I mumbled. “I just brought you along so I could yell at and be a total dick to you.” I moved to the coffee table and dropped onto the edge of it. 

Merrix shrugged. He swung his legs over the edge of the couch and shifted along the cushions until we were sitting across from each other. 

“You look like your father when you’re angry,” he whispered.

“Oh. _Oh_.” I buried my face in my hands, my shoulders hunching up to my ears. Merrix’s hand slid over my hair. I sighed into the touch as he took to stroking my hair. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Merrix said. “Usually I don’t notice. You’d always get pissy when we trained together and it never bothered me. Guess I’m just a little drunk right now.”

I thought of the bruise that marred his forehead and of how he hadn't sustained it during the fight with Callahan. My father had probably given him that injury and who knew how many more. Drunkenness probably wasn't the only reason Merrix had been frightened. 

I dropped my hands into my lap and pulled back from his hand. He let his hand fall to my knee. I stared down at it. My body was starting to heat up as the familiar scent of an alpha washed over me. I reached out and pushed his hand gently off my knee. 

“Bad idea,” I mumbled. 

“Callahan going to get mad?” Merrix asked as he sat back against the couch. 

“Uh, no. That’s not really an issue anymore.” My hand slid over the back of my neck. The scar was still there, but it didn’t mean much, not anymore. “Sam says that I might be, like, craving an alpha right now.” 

“How—oh,” Merrix whispered. “The mark...did something...” 

“My mother broke it,” I said quietly. 

“Is that why Callahan isn’t here?” Merrix asked. 

“No, that’s something else,” I said. I pressed my fingers against my temple as I felt the beginnings of another headache. 

“Wow, that, uh, that all really sucks.” Merrix sighed. “Sorry, I don’t know what to say.” 

“It’s fine, you don’t have to say anything,” I said, shaking my head. “These last few days have been the worse.”

"Want me to try to make it better," Merrix said with a teasing purr to his voice. He reached out and tilted my chin back. He was grinning at me in that maniacal fashion of his.

"Not necessary, thanks." I caught Merrix’s wrist. I could feel Merrix’s pulse throbbing against my fingertips.  I swallowed. My breathing came in shallow pants. My hand tightened around Merrix’s wrist.  

Merrix glanced up to meet my eyes. 

“Lu?” Merrix pulled his hand back, but I continued to clutch his wrist. “Are you thirsty?” Merrix asked quietly. 

“S-sorry.” My head jerked to the side and I quickly released Merrix’s wrist. 

“Do you want me to call a feeder?” Merrix offered. 

“It’s fine,” I said with a shake of my head. I drew in a shaky breath, closing my eyes as I steadied myself. I could feel Merrix’s penetrating gaze on me. My lips twisted in a frown.

“Quit staring at me,” I muttered as I opened my eyes once more.

“You can feed on me if you like,” Merrix said with a smirk as he leaned forward with his elbows propped on his knees. “Or you could feed from yourself.” Merrix’s grin broadened at maniacal gleam entered his eyes. 

“I’m not here to satiate your weird voyeurism kink,” I said with a scowl. 

“Pity.” Merrix laughed. “That would have been hot.”

“You can leave now,” I said, a touch loudly as my cheeks heated up.

“If you ever need, my blood is all yours,” Merrix said as he rose to his feet.

“Go die,” I growled. 

“Mm, yes talk dirty to me.” Merrix grinned wolfishly down at me and my blush deepened. Merrix laughed, blew me a kiss, and headed out of the room. 

I sighed and dropped my head into my hands. I was pushing it, that was for damn sure. I needed to feed and soon, but I didn’t have any options at my disposal. Sure, Merrix had offered himself to me, but he was collared to my father; I couldn’t touch him like that, not without risk of retribution. Merrix was hurt enough by my father as it was; I couldn't risk further jeopardizing his safety by feeding on him. I couldn’t ask Sam, or Vanessa, or Lionel, or Luke. I trusted them, but not like that, not when I was my most vulnerable. Callahan was my best choice and my only choice, but I’d die first before I asked him for anything ever again. 

The only problem was, if I went into a frenzy because of lack of blood, I wouldn’t be the one dying first.


	42. Chapter Ninteen

“How did the party go?” Ethan asked from where he sat on the bed with his laptop.

Merrix cast him a disparaging glance as he kicked the bedroom door shut behind him.

“God, you sound like a mother,” he muttered. He stomped across the room to the bathroom, pushed inside, and kicked that door shut as well.

He was by no means upset with Ethan, but he was certainly taking his annoyance out on the other shifter. Merrix sighed heavily as he climbed into the shower and flicked on the water.

The conversation with Lucian had left him with substantial concern for the vampire’s well-being and it irked him to no end that he was worrying about someone other than himself. Well, if Lucian lost his shit because he hadn’t drunk enough blood, there would be a killing spree and Merrix could very well got caught up in that. So, in a way, concern for Lucian was really just concern for himself, Merrix reasoned with himself.

He’d seen Lucian lose his shit before and it was no laughing matter. He’d had to pin the vampire down and jab a sedative into him at one point. He’d been rewarded for his efforts with a large chunk of flesh ripped from his arms, courtesy of Lucian’s gnashing teeth. If Lucian wasn’t feeding, it didn’t bode well for anyone at the resort. Merrix knew from Ethan that Lucian had rushed straight to the bathroom after a number of feedings. Ethan had always seemed very worried as he recounted these instances, but Merrix hadn’t ever paid them much mind.

Now he couldn’t shake the thought that maybe Lucian couldn’t manage to feed on humans. It wouldn’t surprise him if this was the case; he’d been to those feeding parties Raife and Samarillian had held at the mansion. He’d seen the debauchery that took place there, the debauchery that Lucian had been forced to partake in. If Lucian had developed a distaste for human blood, no one would blame him. The only problem was he needed a supplement, and he clearly wasn’t getting one.

Merrix turned off the shower and stepped out. He grabbed a towel, rubbed himself down, and wrapped it around his waist. He left the bathroom, pushing his wet hair off his forehead as he went.

He stopped a pace inside the room as his eyes settled on Ethan. Ethan’s chin was propped in his hand as he stared down the computer screen. His shoulders rose and fell steadily with every breath he took. 

Merrix was crossing the room and grabbing Ethan’s laptop before he even knew what had taken hold of him. Ethan sat back with a small gasp of surprise. Merrix tossed the laptop aside and climbed into Ethan’s lap.

“Merrix, what—“ Ethan began, but Merrix slotted their lips together, cutting off further confusion and protest. Ethan grunted into the kiss. His hands feel to Merrix’s bare hips. He tried to push the other shifter back, but Merrix locked his knees against his thighs, anchoring himself in place.

Merrix pulled back after a moment, panting slightly. Ethan was just as out of breath. His grip on Merrix’s hips softened slightly. Merrix rested his forehead against Ethan’s.

“Merrix, what are you doing?” Ethan said, this time able to fully articulate his question.

“What’s it look like?” Merrix asked as he slid forward in Ethan’s lap.

“Merrix, you know I don’t think of you like that,” Ethan said.

“And why not?” Merrix snapped. His hands flew Ethan’s shoulder and he dug his fingers into him. “Why not? When all I want is to be someone special to you.”

“You are special to me, Merrix,” Ethan murmured.

“Not childhood friends special, you jackass,” Merrix snarled. “Fucking special.” He rolled his ass down in harsh emphasis.

“No one is special like that to me,” Ethan said in a low voice. His hands had tightened on Merrix’s hips, but now he slid them to Merrix’s wrists. He took hold of them gently and pulled Merrix’s hand down. “You know that. Besides, don’t you have a thing for Eden?” He laced his fingers with Merrix’s and rested their hands on the mattress.

“I have thing for both of you,” Merrix snapped. “Let’s just give it a shot, Ethan; come on.”

“Merrix, even if I were sexually attracted to people, you and I couldn’t,” Ethan said with a slow shake of his head.

“Why not?” Merrix snapped for the third time that morning.

Ethan released one of his hands. He raised his hand and brushed it lightly over the collar that constricted Merrix’s throat. Merrix cringed and jerked back. His head snapped to the side and he glared at the crumpled bed sheets.

Merrix’s teeth gritted together audibly, a low growl bubbled up in the back of his throat. He felt his body heating up with anger. This goddamn collar had robbed him of everything: his dignity, his manhood, his autonomy. And now it was keeping him from being with Ethan. It didn’t matter that Ethan was ace. If it weren’t for this collar, they could give it a shot.

He released a low snarl and pitched out of Ethan’s lap. He flopped onto the pillows on his back and flung his arm over his face. He felt the mattress shift as Ethan stood up. Merrix ground his teeth together so hard they started to ache, but focusing on that helped quell that anger coursing through him. He inhaled deeply, unlocked his jaw, and exhaled slowly through his mouth.

“Here,” Ethan said.

Merrix dropped his arm from his face and sat up on his elbow. Ethan stood by the side of the bed with a shirt and sweatpants in his hands.

“You’ll catch a cold,” he said.

Merrix nodded as he sat up. He pulled on the shirt as he swung his legs off the side of the bed. Standing up, he pulled on the sweatpants. He tossed the towel onto the foot of the bed and crawled back under the covers.

Ethan got into bed beside me. Merrix grabbed his laptop and passed it over to him.

“Thanks,” Ethan said as he propped the computer on his knees.

Merrix dropped onto the pillows and closed his eyes. He’d feel less like shit in the evening. He’d feel less used and disgusting and hurt. He’d feel less like he wanted to die. Because that was how he felt every evening with a fresh night ahead of him. By the end of the night, of course, he’d be back to feeling like this, but then another evening would come. And another. And another. Until a new evening wasn’t enough. 

* * *

 

The constant throbbing in my skull had become a much too familiar state of being for my liking. It seemed no matter how many painkillers I popped I would still be stuck with this ache. If I fed, that would probably help heal the damage my mother had wrought in my skull, but that wasn’t an option currently. So becoming a mild drug addict was the way to go for now.

A quiet knocking on my door roused me from these thoughts. I sat up from where I’d been draped across the couch cushions. I glowered toward the door. Maybe whoever was there would just piss off.

The knocking sounded again.

I sighed and clambered off the couch. I stalked over to the door and yanked it open.

“What?” I snapped angrily.

Ethan raised his eyebrows in surprise at my caustic attitude.

“Hey,” he said.

“What you want?” I asked, my tone a touch less combative. I leaned against the door frame and folded my arms.

Ethan’s eyes flickered over my form. His brow creased in concern. I flushed at the expression. I knew I wasn’t looking too hot. My cheeks were more hollow than usual; my eyes rimmed with dark circles. I was also dressed like a downright slob—baggy sweats and a crumpled t-shirt—and had been for the last three nights.

“Can I come in?” Ethan asked.

I sighed and stepped back against the wall. I gestured down the entry hall.

“Be my guest.”

Ethan walked down the hallway. He stopped a few paces into the living room. I followed after him, passed him, and dropped onto the arm of the couch.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Are you doing alright, Lucian?” Ethan asked hesitantly.

“Take a wild guess,” I muttered. When Ethan opened his mouth to say something else, I held up my hand. “It’s fine. I’m not in the mood to talk about it. What are you doing here?”

“I have a favor to ask, Lu,” Ethan said. His fingers laced together and his eyes dropped to the floor. “It’s about Merrix.”

“What about him?” I propped my foot on the arm of the couch and dropped my chin onto my knee.

“Things have gotten…bad,” Ethan said, his voice slow, tentative.

“Ethan, Merrix and I aren’t friends. We might have grown up together, but he’s always been an absolute dick to me. So, sorry, but I don't really care.”

“I know,” Ethan said. “He’s an absolute dick to most people. There’s no excuse for how he acts, but—“ Ethan sighed quietly and shook his head—“I’m afraid he might do something stupid to get out of…the current situation.”

“You mean with my dad,” I said.

Ethan nodded. “Do you think—is there anything you can do?”

“Like what?” I said.

“You need a new guardian. Your father offered you Eden, but what if you asked for Merrix.”

“Merrix’s not just a guardian; he’s also collared. I’d be asking for my father’s _property_.”

“Eden’s also collared,” Ethan pointed out, “and Raife was willing to give you his—“Ethan’s mouth twisted in disgust—“property.”

“I don’t like asking my father for things,” I said, “and I don’t like admitting I was wrong. I’d rather go without a guardian for the rest of my life than admit I need one from my father.”

“Lucian, Merrix is probably going to try to kill himself or your father,” Ethan said bluntly. “He’s my best friend, and I’m begging you to help him.”

I sighed and shook my head. “You don’t need to beg, Ethan, but you are going to owe me big time for this.”

“Thank you, Lu.”

“Thank me if my father gives me Merrix.” 

* * *

 

I stared at the closed door in front of me. My father was beyond this door, as were Merrix and Ethan. I had sent Ethan back to my father’s room ahead of me, so my father wouldn’t suspect Ethan had put me up to this. I had taken the next hour to freshen up, but not to a great extent. I needed to look like shit for this to work, so I’d only changed into a pair of skinny jeans and a cardigan. I had put some dry shampoo into my hair so I didn’t look downright gross, but I hadn’t put on any makeup.

I released a long sigh before lifting my hand to the door. I knocked softly. I heard a muffled voice beyond the door and then the approach of footsteps. I slid my hands into my back pockets and assumed as nonchalant a pose as I could manage with anxiety firing through my veins.

Merrix pulled the door open with a taciturn expression on his face. The expression broke into his trademark manic grin when he saw me. The smile didn’t reach his eyes; they remained flat and dull.

“’Sup Lucian. You still look like crap.”

“Good,” I muttered as I pushed past him. I walked down the hall with Merrix close on my heels. I glanced around the living room and found my father seated in the armchair before the fireplace.

“Lord Samarillian,” Merrix announced loftily, “your lovely son is here to see you.”

My father sighed as he closed his book. He looked up and raised an arching brow.

“What is it, Lucian?” he asked. His cold blue eyes pinned me with a harsh glare.

I swallowed and dropped my gaze to the floor. Merrix moved past me and flopped onto the couch.

“I, um,” I said. I slid my hands out of my pockets and clasped them together behind my back. “I need a new guardian,” I said in rush.

“Oh, is that so?” my father said with low chuckle. “And you came to me for this? As I recall you quite blatantly refused my previous offer of a guardian.”

“I, I know,” I said, “but I meant what I said; I don’t want Eden as my guardian. We have too much shit between us for me to trust him.” I inhaled slowly and raised my eyes to meet my father’s. “I want Merrix.”

“What?” the aforementioned shifter said as he propped himself up on his elbows. He stared in confusion between my father and me.

“After what you did at brunch, you have a lot of gall coming here and making demands of me.”

“I’m not just making demands,” I murmured. I rolled my shoulders back and lifted my chin. “Father, I haven’t fed in almost three weeks. I had a supplement, but not anymore. So either you give me Merrix, or you have a blood frenzy on your hands. It’s one or the other. What’s is going to be?”

“Are you threatening me?” my father hissed, rising to his feet.

“Do you feel threatened?” I asked, just as quietly.

My father released a low growl. He took a step forward, but I stood my ground. His eyes narrowed to slits and he lips curled in disgust. My hands tightened their hold on each other, my nails biting into my skin, but I still didn’t move.

My father marched to the couch. Merrix sat up further. His lips were in a tight line of worry as he stared up at my father. My father reached out. Merrix flinched, but my father only unbuckled the collar and pulled it off the shifters neck.

“You can have him,” my father said in a low voice, “but you have to collar him.” He held out the collar toward me.

My eyes widened as I stared at the proffered object. My gaze flickered quickly to Merrix. His Adam apple bobbed as he swallowed. A discolored ring marred his neck, making it seem like he still had a collar even without the leather. His eyes shifted away from my father and he met my eyes. We stared at each other for a long moment. Merrix’s face was completely unreadable beside from his shock over what was transpiring.

I took a deep breath and stalked forward. I grabbed the collar out of my father’s hand. I knelt on the couch, straddling one of Merrix’s legs. Merrix’s mouth fell open in surprise. I leaned forward and carefully rested the collar against Merrix’s neck. I looked up at him. He nodded slowly. I buckled the collar loosely around his neck and rose off the couch once more.

“Done,” I murmured. My hands were trembling and I quickly stuffed them into my back pockets.

“I best never see that collar come off again. Now get out,” my father snapped. “And get yourself fed.” 

* * *

 

I fell onto the couch in my own sitting room with a heavy sigh. I dropped my face into hands as I focused on evening out my frantic heartbeat. I felt Merrix’s gaze on me as he perched on the edge of the coffee table. Our knees brushed.

“What the fuck was that about?” Merrix snapped.

“I just needed a new guardian,” I said in a low voice. I dropped my hands into my lap and looked up at him.

Merrix’s face twisted in a yeah-fucking-right expression and he gave a scornful snort.

“Yeah, and you need to feed. I’d already told you could feed from me.”

“I couldn’t when you were collared to my father,” I shot back.

“And now I’m collared to you,” Merrix said with a slow grin. “So I’m all yours to do with as you like.” He leaned into my space, so close our noses brushed. “So what’s it gonna be Lu? You wanna fuck or feed?”

“Ethan put me up to it,” I said. I leaned back against the couch, hoping it didn’t look I was trying to escape Merrix’s proximity. “He asked me to get you away from my father.”

“Asshole,” Merrix growled. I wasn’t certain if he was talking about Ethan or me. “So all that about being on the verge of a frenzy was just a ruse?”

“No, that's true,” I said. “Look, if you’d rather mock me than help me, go right ahead, but I’m running out of time and options.”

Merrix lifted his arm and pushed back his sleeve. “Knock yourself out, baby boy,” he said.

“Don’t make this sexual,” I muttered as I slid my hands over his arms. I sat forward on the edge of the couch. My mouth was beginning to water and my face heated up.

“Mm, don’t worry. I’ll just lie back and take it quietly.”

“God, you’re insufferable,” I said. I bent forward. My lips brushed his bare forearm. I could feel his blood pulsing beneath my hands.

“Thank you, Lu,” Merrix said suddenly.

I glanced up at him. “Have you ever said that before?” I asked.

“First time for everything,” Merrix said with a shrug. “Now go ahead and feed before you lose it.”


	43. Chapter Twenty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm glad people are liking the update plotline so far! i like writing lu and merrix's dynamic. soon there will be some exciting action violence tho!  
> also i've been editing for the extended edition of arc two as well and i've decided to have it be that eden and lu didn't sleep together. that change gets mentioned in passing in this chapter just a heads up
> 
> EDIT: may 16th

A crushing weight slammed against me, effectively shattering the fog of sleep I had been contentedly dwelling in. I released a muffled shout and twisted around beneath whatever was on top of me. My elbow collided with something hard.

“Ow, bitch.”

“Merrix? What the fuck?” I blinked my eyes open.

Merrix was sitting back on his heels from his previous position of being draped over me. He perched on my hips as he rubbed his jaw. 

“Wakey wakey,” he said with a glower.

“Yeah, I’m awake. Thanks for that, asshole,” I muttered. I scrubbed my hand over my face. “I almost had a fucking heart attack.”

“Heh, my bad,” Merrix said with a twisted grin.

“In future please wake me gently,” I grumbled as I flopped back on the pillows. I was more than well aware that Merrix’s ass was pressed against my crotch. 

“Aw, does baby boy prefer to be handled gently?” Merrix crooned. He leaned forward, blessedly lifting his ass out of my lap, and pressed a quick kiss to my forehead.

“I hate you,” I groused. “Get off, dick face.”

Merrix rolled off of me onto the bed beside me.

“Any particular reason why you decided to accost me?” I asked.

“You were summoned,” Merrix said, grinning. He pulled my phone out of his pocket and waved it at me. “Your daddy requires your presence at a party tonight.”

“Quit calling him that. Makes me want to projectile vomit.” I took my phone from Merrix and flicked it open. I found my text app open to the thread I’d had with Callahan. 

“You should really lock your phone,” Merrix said sagely.

“Did you fucking text him?” I snapped, sitting up hastily and quickly reading through the texts.

“Course not,” Merrix said. “I just wanted to see if you guys had ever sexted each other.”

“We did that on the phone, not over text,” I muttered. I ignored Merrix’s guffawing as I clicked out of Callahan’s texts and opened the thread with my father. 

My father had indeed ordered me to attend a dinner party tonight. Apparently it was one being held by the resort itself. My father probably guessed that given the chance I wouldn’t have attended, given the host wasn’t a notable vampire noble. I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. Now that Merrix wasn’t all over me and was instead just quietly staring at me from his perch on the bed next to me, I could take stock of myself. I was happy to find my head was pain completely free. Hopefully this would remain the case.

“You look better tonight,” Merrix said as he reached out and pressed a hand to my cheek.

I blinked and glanced over at him. His voice had had an unusual tone of seriousness to it and the pressure on my cheek was gentle. 

“More color in your cheeks,” Merrix continued. 

“Uh, yeah,” I said as my face did a good job proving his point and heating up considerably.

“Aw, you’re blushing.”

“Fuck off,” I muttered. I clambered out of bed and stalked to the bedroom. “Don’t touch my phone again,” I snapped over my shoulder before slamming the door shut.

* * *

“You’re vibrating,” Merrix said.

I glanced up at him in confusion before pulling my phone out of my blazer pocket.

“No, you,” Merrix said. “Your body, you’re vibrating. Are you nervous?”

I glared at him and folded arms. Vibrating was a touch over dramatic. Yes, I was trembling just a touch, but not that much. I did hate that Merrix could tell, and had deigned it necessary to comment. 

I took a deep breath, pulled my glare away from him, and looked at the room that lay before me. 

This morning’s party was being held in the largest ballroom the resort had to offer, and it was almost filled entirely with vampires and shifters. The sheer number of people packed into the room was daunting in its own right, but pair that with the fact that Callahan was somewhere in their midst and it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out why I was shaking with nerves.

“Come on,” Merrix said, resting his hand on the small of my back, “we gotta find your father; then you’ll just have to wander around a bit more; then we can split.”

I glanced up at him. His face was devoid of that off-putting smile, instead displaying an expression of expectance as he waited for me to either answer or make my move into the room. 

“Okay, yeah,” I said with a nod.

I turned and crossed the threshold. Merrix’s fingers continued to brush the small of my back as I led the way across the room. The crowd was dense and every once and a while, Merrix gripped the back of my blazer to keep me from separating from him. 

“What’s got you so nervous anyway?” Merrix said.

I didn’t need to look up at him to know he had cheeky smile on his face, but I did anyway so he’d have to see the glower on my face.

“You can figure that out yourself,” I said. 

Merrix couldn’t reply immediately as someone peeled away from a small cluster of vampires to greet me. I recognized them vaguely as someone my father had done business with. We exchanged niceties and I continued into the crowd.

“Worried you’re going to run into your boy toy?” Merrix said. “Oh, sorry. _Ex_ boy toy.”

“Ding ding ding,” I said flatly. “Got it in one.” 

“There’s no need to worry,” Merrix said dismissively. “You have a hot rebound on your arm after all.” 

I made the mistake of glancing up at him. He grinned at me and winked. Even though the wink came from Merrix, it still made me flush.

“You give yourself too much credit as an anxiety relief,” I muttered as I ducked my head. 

Merrix’s hand dropped away from my back. I paused and looked back at him. He was frozen in place a pace behind me. His eyes were rooted on a spot off to his left. I looked around in confusion.

Eden was staring back at Merrix. His face was unreadable; his silver eyes unblinking. He stood beside Raife, though the royal’s back was to us. I looked back at Merrix. His face slowly split into that telltale manic grin, flashing his strong white teeth. He winked at Eden. I looked quickly back at the guardian. 

His face broke in a scowl. He flicked the glare in my direction before turning on his back on us. 

“What was that about?” I asked. “I thought you and Eden were on good terms. Or as good terms as you’re capable of being considering you’re an ass.”

I continued through the crowd again and Merrix followed, his hand returning to my back. I wondered how he’d stayed close to my father in large crowds. He had certainly never touched him of his own volition. Maybe he was more concerned I could get lost in the crowd since I was so much shorter.

“Yup, we were,” Merrix said, “but then someone decided to make me his guardian, once again snubbing poor Eden. You know,” Merrix continued in a musing voice, “he’s dreamed of being your guardian since he was five. Even after everything that’s happened between you guys he still dreams of it.”

“I know,” I said quietly, “but I can’t, not right now. I know after what I put him through I should just let him have whatever he wants from me, but I can’t keep putting out for him.”

“Wait what?” Merrix said. He came to a halt and his hand gripped my blazer. “What do you mean putting _out_?”

“That’s not—I didn’t mean—“ I flushed under Merrix’s dark stare. 

“Are you and Eden fucking?” Merrix asked, his voice dangerously low.

“I, we didn’t—I just,” I stammered. I swallowed as Merrix’s eyes narrowed. “I just sucked him off that’s it,” I whispered.

Merrix opened his mouth to retort, but before he could, someone called my name. 

Roland was loping toward me, a grin on his face. A shifter trailed after him. Beneath his button up I spotted a collar. I recognized the shifter vaguely from the Academy. I glanced between the pair in confusion. I hadn't seen Roland at all while being at the resort, but apparently he'd decided to show up late.

“Hey, Lu,” he drawled as he came to a halt a pace away from me. “Good to see you.” His eyes rolled blatantly over my body and his grin widened. “You look good.”

“Who’s this prick?” Merrix asked.

Roland’s smile dropped and his face was overcome by an expression of comical shock. I snickered quietly at the look.

“I beg your pardon,” Roland said, his eyes flashing angrily as he glared up at Merrix.

“Mm, I love it when they beg,” Merrix said.

“Merrix, this is Roland. He’s in some of my classes. Roland, this is my new guardian, Merrix.”

Merrix stuck out his hand toward Roland, who stared at proffered appendage like it was diseased. Roland’s shifter was staring at Merrix like he was utterly and completely bat shit crazy. He wasn’t entirely wrong.

“You allow your collared shifter to act like this,” Roland said as he turned his attention to me.

“Oh, he allows me to do so much more than this,” Merrix said as he slid his hands over hips.

“You shouldn’t let him do that, Lucian,” Roland said. “He’s collared; he needs to behave accordingly. And if he doesn’t, you should punish him.”

Merrix’s grip on my hips tightened and I could sense anger rolling off of him. I didn't care how Merrix conducted himself around my peers. My father's business partners? Yes, a certain level of decorum was required. But Merrix could go off on Roland for all I cared. I also didn't much appreciate Roland talking shit about Merrix.

“He’d enjoy being punished too much for it to be effective,” I said.

Merrix burst out laughing.

“You know me so well, baby boy,” he said as he released my hips.

Roland seemed prepared to reply with another aghast comment, but the sound of my name once again interrupted conversation. The voice that uttered it this time sent a spike of fear up my spine. I gasped and took a hasty step away from the voice. I collided with Merrix’s chest. He didn’t move. My gaze flickered to the source of the voice.

My mother slid out of the crowd. She was dressed in a gorgeous crimson gown that hugged her body. Her hair was, like always, piled atop her head. Flanking her were two shifters. My heart thundered in my throat and I felt close to vomiting as I glanced at Callahan. 

He was dressed in a well-tailored black suit. His hair was combed back from his face, a face that yielded not a single expression. His eyes were averted, but I saw him stiffen as I glanced at him. I looked back at my mother. She waved her hand dismissively in Roland’s direction and he and his shifter quickly vanished into the crowd.

“You look good, Lucian,” my mother said as she closed the gap between us by a few paces. “I’d heard you weren’t faring well after I broke the mark.” Her face was a picture of concern, but the expression didn’t extend to her eyes.

“Well, I’m fine now,” I said stiffly. I took a small step away from Merrix, though this unfortunately brought me a little closer to my mother. “No thanks to you,” I added under my breath.

“Your shifter is quite competent,” my mother continued, gesturing over her shoulder to Callahan. “I must thank you for letting me have him.”

“He’s all yours,” I hissed, cutting a vicious glare in Callahan’s direction.

This time he was looking at me. This time he met my eyes. He continued to hold my gaze for a beat before casting his gaze to the floor.

“It’s good to see you found a suitable replacement,” my mother continued, looking up at Merrix. “Though is it not embarrassing to have a collared shifter as your guardian?”

“Is it not embarrassing to have your son’s sloppy seconds as your guardian?” I shot back.

My mother’s eyes widened slightly. I shot her and Callahan one final glare before turning on me heel and shoving away through the crowd. Merrix followed close on my heels. I marched through the mass of people, uncaring of how many people I clipped with my elbows as I passed. I was heading toward the exit and Merrix soon realized this.

“You haven't seen your father yet,” he pointed out.

“I don’t care; I’m leaving,” I said as I crossed the threshold out of the room.

Sudden movement to my left caught my attention. A vampire male slammed another against the wall and buried his face against his neck.

“Jesus, get a fucking room,” I muttered. 

The assailing vampire tore back from the other’s neck. Blood splattered across his face. His elongated tongue snaked out of his mouth and swiped across his face. His eyes shone a vibrant, palpable red.


	44. Chapter Twenty-One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WAIT! if you read the previous chapter before today (may 16th) pop back to it and reread the end. i made a change!
> 
> cw: blood

My mouth fell open, a shriek building in the back of my throat. Merrix slammed his hand over my mouth. His arm circled my waist and hoisted me off my feet. He dragged me out of the room. I flailed in his grip as anger flashed through my chest. That guy had just ripped someone’s throat out—he could be dying—and Merrix was just carrying me off like I was a sack of potatoes. 

I bit down hard on Merrix’s hand, my fangs puncturing his flesh. He hissed and dropped me. I stumbled away from him and spun around.

“What the fuck?” I snapped. “That guy needs help!”

Merrix grabbed my face and yanked me forward. His eyes flashed dangerously. My breath caught in the back of my throat and I stilled in his grip.

“Lucian,” he hissed. Before he could continue, a scream echoed out of the ballroom behind. He growled in annoyance. “And now there’s going to be panic, and panic means stampede, and stampede means people get hurt—or killed. Right now, and for the duration of the night, you are my _only_ priority. So do exactly as I tell you. Starting now. Run.”

Merrix dropped his hand to my wrist and pulled me after him as he started down the hallway. I scampered after him. I was a perfectly adept runner, but Merrix’s stride was about twice mine. I was also absolutely riddled with anxiety having just seen someone get their throat ripped out by a vampire. And that man had most certainly without a doubt been in a frenzy, which meant what ever had happened to Ellington was happening again. On top of that, there very much was a stampede happening behind us. Screams tore down the hallway and footsteps thundered after us.

Merrix growled again. He released my wrist, making me stumble, and spun around. He lifted me into his arms and turned back down the hall. I gasped in surprise, my arms instinctively wrapping around his neck. 

Merrix raced through the hallways, his pace unhindered by having me in his arms. When we were several corridors away from the ballroom and the cacophony behind us was no longer audible, Merrix slowed his stride. He came to a halt and carefully set me down. 

“You good?” he said, running his hand over my hair. His breathing came slightly haggard pants.

“I, yeah, I’m good,” I said, nodding slowly.

“Good,” Merrix said with a nod of his own. “Let’s keep going a bit further and try to find some elevators.” He slid his hand into mine and we set off down the corridor. 

“Do you think it was just that one guy who went into a frenzy?” I asked quietly.

“No idea,” Merrix said with a shake of his head. “We can only hope.”

If more than just the one had gone into a frenzy, the ballroom would be a certified blood bath by now. With as many shifters on hand as there were back there, the frenzied vampires would be subdued quickly, but not before they dealt considerable damage. Security might have been cautioned that vampires were randomly falling into frenzies, but that didn’t change how shocking seeing that would be, and that surprise would give the frenzied ones ample time to get their teeth in someone’s throat.

Merrix suddenly doubled over with a gasp. He slumped against the wall. He released my hand and clutched his head. 

“Merrix, what’s wrong?” I asked, placing a caution hand on his shoulder.

Merrix released a pained whine as he sunk into a crouch. A long shudder coursed through his body.

“Merrix, what’s going on?” I said much more frantically. 

Merrix snarled. His hand shot out and he shoved me away from him. I fell back on my ass, gaping at him. His head snapped up. His eyes glowed bright yellow. His face was mottled with patches of fury. Long, sickle-like claws dug into the wall behind him. 

“What the f—“ My voice choked in my throat as Merrix’s hand shot out.

He grabbed the concealed tranq gun at his ankle and yanked it out of its holster.

“Merrix!” 

Merrix pressed the gun against his neck, above his collar, and he fired. I jerked forward and caught his shoulders as he slumped away from the wall. His body relaxed against me, the gun slipping from his fingers. His cheek brushed the side of my neck and I felt the fur melt away.

“What the fucking fuck?” I whispered. 

Merrix had definitely without a doubt almost gone rabid. What ever was effecting vampires seemed to have extended to shifters now. 

I lifted Merrix into my arms and stood up. He wasn’t too heavy for me to lift, but he was cumbersome to maneuver with. I stumbled down the hallway. When I reached an intersection, I headed to the right. A pair of double glass doors stood at the end of the hall. Moonlight shone through the glass. It was only about four in the morning, so I’d be safe from the sun for another hour or so.

I reached the doors and shouldered them open. A oppressive heat blanketed me immediately. I gasped. It wasn’t just the suffocating heat that stole my breath. I was standing in a massive, sprawling greenhouse. It was filled to the brim with gorgeous plants of varying sizes. Flowers blossomed all around me, filling the thick air with a mixture of scents.

I wandered down one of the paths. I was momentarily lost in the wonder of the greenhouse, forgetting the horror I’d left behind in the ballroom and why I was currently carrying an unconscious shifter in my arms.

The narrow path opened into a large clearing. A gazebo stood in the center of the clearing, bathed in silver moonlight. I crossed to the building, mounted the shallow steps, and knelt down. I lay Merrix gingerly against the railing that encompassed the gazebo. I sighed and sat back on my heels. 

Merrix’s face was peaceful in his sedative-induced slumber. I reached out and placed my hand over his brow. His skin was cool beneath mine. Good; a fever would have indicated he was still in the throes of rabidity. 

I swiveled around on my heels and slumped back against the rail beside Merrix. A sheen of sweat was beginning to form over my body and I shucked off my blazer. I took my phone out of the pocket of the blazer. I pulled up my contact list and quickly selected every shifter I had on the list. My thumb hovered hesitantly over Callahan’s name, but I selected it as well. He needed to know just as much as the others.

I composed a quick message to the shifters, explaining that Merrix had almost gone rabid and they needed to be careful that what ever was effecting the vampires didn’t get to them too. I sent the message.

A sudden prickling ran along the back of my neck. I swallowed and looked slowly over my shoulder. 

“Father?” I said in confusion, recognizing the figure that stood in the threshold of the gazebo.

My father’s head was down. His breathing was slow, ragged. His hands were balled into fists at his sides. I knelt slowly and started to rise.

“Father?” I repeated cautiously. 

My father’s head snapped back. His face was twisted with wrath. Blood was smeared around his mouth. His lips twisted back in a snarl, revealing blood stained fangs. I gasped, my eyes widening in horror. I flicked my thumb quickly over my phone screen, hoping what I typed was legible.

He lunged forward just as I pressed send. His hand coiled around my neck. He hauled me off the floor and hurled me away from him. I flew out of the gazebo and slammed into the gravel-covered ground. My phone was knocked out of my hand as the air was punched out of my lungs on the impact. I skidded a few more feet before rolling to a halt. I groaned and pushed up onto my knees. 

A hand caught the back of my head. My father's fingers twined in my hair. He slammed my face into the gravel. I grunted at the impact. He wrenched me back and slammed me down again. My forehead split and blood spilled into my eyes.

My father ripped me off the ground by my hair. I cried out and stumbled back against his chest. His hot breath poured over my face as he leaned over me. I whimpered and tried to pull my face away from him. He bent forward and drew his elongated tongue over my face, lapping up my blood. I whined loudly and squirmed in his grip.  A long, feral growl rumbled deep in my father’s chest. I gritted my teeth and tried to suppress another pathetic whimper.

My father suddenly flung me away from him once more. I soared across the clearing and slammed into the broad trunk of a tree. I cried out as pain shot up my spine. I fell in a heap of limbs at the foot of the tree. I groaned and pushed up on my elbows. Blood dripped down my face and I blinked my eyes quickly.  My breathing came in ragged gasps as my eyes rose to my father. He was stalking slowly across the clearing towards me. 

He darted forward in a blur. I gasped and jerked back, my arms coming up to defend myself. His claws slashed across my arms, serrating fabric and flesh. I cried out in pain. He grabbed my arms and dragged me back into the gravel clearing. He threw me down the ground. I grunted at the impact.

My father lifted his hand to his mouth. He dragged his tongue slowly over his blood-coated claws. I whimpered quietly at the sight. He was stronger than usual; faster than usual. He had fed on someone, probably exsanguinated them.  I gritted my teeth and pushed onto my elbows. I needed every weapon in my arsenal just to _match_ him in strength now. My blood slowly started to crystalize over my arms. My father stalked forward slowly.

Suddenly someone pounced on my father, slamming him into the ground in spray of gravel. The pair rolled away from me. The new assailant detangled from my father. My father surged into a crouch, spitting vicious growls. I could smell alpha pheromones in the air, mixing with acrid scent of the blood frenzy, and my first thought was Merrix, but I was wrong I realized as the shifter rose slowly to his feet. 

Callahan faced my father and me. His chest rose and fell steadily; his hands hung loosely at his sides. His eyes were glowing a stark green. He released a low growl and plumes of fur rippled up his forearms. 

I gasped at the sudden waves of pheromones that coursed off of Callahan, my nails biting into the ground, but my father surged forward. He lashed at Callahan with hooked claws. Callahan blocked the blows with ease, ducking and weaving out of my father range. My father screeched in rage and quickened his assault. His mad flurry left him open to attack and Callahan lanced under my father’s guard. His fist punched into my father’s gut. My father doubled over with a gasp. He stumbled back.

Callahan reared back. His claws glistened in the moonlight and he started to bring them down. Suddenly he stumbled back with a gasp. Confusion flashed over his face and his hand flew to his head. His eyes flickered to me. They were wide with shocked horror. 

My father darted around Callahan. He grabbed him by his hair and yanked his head back. His other hand flashed up. His claws raked across Callahan’s exposed throat. Blood spurted from the gouts he’d rent. Callahan choked. My father released him. He dropped to his knees, swaying slightly, before pitching to the side. Blood spilled out of his throat, staining the gravel around him crimson.

A whimpered gasp fell of my lips as I stared at him. My body shook with horror. I scrambled to my knees, my hand flew to my mouth to muffle a cry.

My father knelt, his mouth splitting open as his hungry eyes bore into Callahan’s limp form.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” I screeched.

I surged to my feet. My blood hardened around my hands as I lunged forward. I lashed out with a knife of blood. My father jerked upright. His arm flew up to block the blow, but my blood sliced easily through his flesh. He cried out in pain in confusion. I struck with the other blade, splitting his skin with ease. My father darted back, creating a gap between us as he collected himself. 

My breathing came in frantic gasps as I paced forward. The blades melted away from my hands, dripping blood around me. I crystallized the vermillion liquid into claws crowning my fingers.

“I am going,” I said between pants, “to fucking kill you.” 

I brought my claws to my face and sliced open my cheeks. My face split open, my double-jointed jaw unhinging completely. My vision blurred and tinged with red. My veins were throbbing and a shudder coursed through my body.

I charged forward in blur. My father met me head on, but I beat him back in a flurry of blood claws. I knocked his arms aside, bearing his chest to me. I darted forward. My teeth bit into his shoulder. He howled. I ripped back, rending a chunk of flesh from his shoulder. He stumbled back. Wooziness from blood loss threatened the edges of my vision, but I pressed on. 

I broke through his arms, which he thrown up to defend himself. I caught his shoulders and slammed him onto his knees. I grabbed his face in my hands and twisted. His neck snapped with a loud crack. His body dropped to the ground at my feet. 

I stumbled back. My entire body was trembling with adrenaline. Blood dripped off my fingers. I quaked and whimpered. My legs gave way and fell to my knees. I twisted around the gravel and crawled over to Callahan’s body. 

“C-Cal,” I whispered as I caught his shoulder. I bent over him, pressing my forehead to his chest. 

The overwhelming scent of blood washed over me. A tremor ran through me. My throat burned with thirst. I whimpered loud.

“Cal, please, wake up,” I begged. 

A hand slid over the top of my head. I sobbed in relief as Callahan stirred beneath me. The hand tightened in my hair. Callahan twisted my head to the side, bearing my throat. I gasped in confusion. He lunged forward and buried his fangs into my neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> at long hecking last i got the climax scene down. and the biggest reveal of all! okay, second biggest ;) there's still one more reveal i have up my sleeve that will hopefully leave people shook. this arc is going to wrap up soon and then it'll be on to arc three


	45. Chapter Twenty-Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me?? go back and edit something in the previous chapter?? it's more likely than you think xD it's nothing big i just added that lucian texted the group chat that he was in danger. initially i was going to have merrix text callahan for help but then i was like 'merrix is sedated you dumb slut' so i had to fix that.

Callahan fidgeted anxiously on the edge of the armchair he was perched in. His eyes were rooted on Eliandra where she lay on the couch cushion. Shannon, her shifter, sat on the arm of the couch, her attention on the iPad she held in her hands.

When the chaos had broken out in the ballroom, Eliandra had fainted. As an empath, she had been completely overwhelmed by the sudden spike of emotions in the room, Shannon had explained to Callahan. 

Luckily, they had been on the opposite side of the room from the first frenzied vampires, so Eliandra fainting had been a forewarning for them and they had managed to escape the room before they could be caught up in the stampede of fleeing party attendees. 

They had found refuge in a small drawing room tucked away near the ballroom. Eliandra had come to her senses long enough to say she’d felt a vampire go into a frenzy, and that she could sense more still. 

Callahan’s phone suddenly buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out a found a text notification from Lucian. His blood ran cold. Without the bond or the mark, Callahan had no way of knowing if Lucian was safe right now, and he could only pray that this message would say that he was.

He opened it, his hands shaking slightly. Lucian’s message was in a group chat with Lionel, Vanessa, and Sam. The message was short and to the point: shifters were danger of going rabid as well as vampires. While this news was horrifying in its own right, Callahan was more hung up on the other piece of information concerning Lucian’s situation this message revealed. Lucian’s shifter was unconscious and, as such, in no position to protect Lucian. Somewhere in the resort, Lucian was alone and possibly in danger.

Callahan took a steadying breath as he closed his phone. He wanted to ask Lucian where he was, but he couldn’t imagine the vampire wanted to talk to him if his behavior at the party was anything to go by. He felt Shannon’s gaze flit over to him. Her orange eyes always felt like a weight when she deigned to look at him. 

Minutes dragged by agonizingly slow. Callahan’s leg shook uncontrollable as anxiety ate away at his nerves. 

His phone buzzed again. Callahan almost dropped it in his hurry to open the message. Lucian’s new message was even shorter than the last. The first word was a garbled mess, but the second stood out starkly on the screen.

_Help_.

Callahan shot out of his chair immediately. His eyes danced over the jumbled letters of the first word: _grnahse_. _Grin hase_ , he thought in confusion. He repeated the words over and over in his head in as many combinations as he could think of until it clicked.

_Green house_. 

“What is it?” Shannon asked, her voice low, rough.

“Lucian,” Callahan blurted out, “he’s in trouble.”

Eliandra sat up slowly at the sound of her son’s name. Her face was deathly pale. Whatever was happening in the ballroom was really taking a toll on her. Her eyes flicked up to Callahan.

“And where do you think you’re going?” she asked.

“I…” Callahan’s gaze flicked between Shannon and Eliandra.

“Who’s guardian are you?” Eliandra continued.

“Lu’s guardian is out of commission and you have Shannon,” Callahan said in a low voice.

“And I told you if you didn’t leave him and become my guardian, I would have a certain discussion with your father,” Eliandra said, her voice quiet, dangerous.

Callahan’s eyes raked over her face. He knew full well she'd make good on her threat, but Lucian was in danger.

He took a breath, and set out toward the door.

“He’ll kill you when I tell him,” Eliandra called after him, but the threat to his life didn’t concern him as much as Lucian’s life did.

* * *

There was a palpably awkward silence hanging in the air and Sam was not a fan of it. Her eyes slid over the three males who were the source of the tension in the room. Merrix was slouched low in the armchair he’d claimed. He was glaring so vehemently at Lucian that Sam was surprised the vampire didn’t keel over dead, but if the completely out of it expression on Lucian’s face was anything to go by, he had absolutely no concept of what was happening around him.

His face was a sight that sent Sam’s stomach into knots. It was less of a mess now than it had been when she’d found him in the greenhouse, cradled against Callahan’s chest. Then his cheeks had been ripped open completely, dripping blood everywhere. Sam had cleaned and sutured his face back together. Now his face was mottled with bruising. The gashes were still prominent, though at least they were stitched closed. Lucian wasn’t healing. He’d lost too much blood.

When Sam had arrived at the greenhouse—after receiving a second text in Lucian’s group chat that read ‘grnahse hlp’—she’d found Lucian, drenched in blood and unconscious in Callahan’s arms. Callahan had been equally covered in blood. He only had three shallow cuts across his neck, but Lucian was riddled with wounds: his face, his arms, his neck. He’d been practically exsanguinated, and it was for this reason that he wasn’t healing now.

Sam’s eyes moved to Callahan. He, like Lucian, was blood free now. His neck was bandaged, but he was none the worse for wear. His eyes were on Lucian, much like Merrix’s, though his gaze was gentle, worried. He had explained things briefly to Sam sparing about every detail.

He’d received Lucian’s call for help just like Sam, but he had managed to get there before her. He’d found Lucian’s father in a blood frenzy attacking his son and had stepped in.

“Something happened,” he’d explained, his finger tips brushing his temple. “I got distracted. Then he got behind me.” His fingers had gone to his throat and the three shallow gashes there. 

Callahan had explained that when he came too, he'd found Lucian collapsed beside him, bleeding out from his multiple injuries. 

“And then you got here,” he’d said. And that had been the end of his summarizing. 

Lionel had arrived not long after. Callahan had tasked him with Lucian’s father, while Sam got Merrix. She and Callahan had taken Merrix and Lucian back to Lucian’s rooms, where Vanessa had met them after Sam had texted her with a brief explanation of the situation.

Lucian’s bedroom had been reduced to nothing short of a triage center as Sam did her utmost to patch him back together. Vanessa had arrived while she worked. Sam had yelled at her to get Callahan the hell of the room because his damn hovering wasn’t helping at all, and Vanessa had had to drag him out bodily.

When Sam had finally emerged from the bedroom after stabilizing Lucian, she’d found that Merrix had come to on the couch. Callahan had explained to him and Vanessa what had happened in the greenhouse. As soon as Merrix learned that Lucian was safe, he started asking after Lord Samarillian’s guardian. No one had an answer for him for several hours.

Sam’s gaze moved back to Lucian. It had taken him no less than six hours to wake up, and he didn’t look like had a complete grip on reality yet. 

Callahan finally broke the silence that had been building for the last ten minutes:

“Lucian,” he said slowly, “you need to feed. You lost so much blood you aren’t healing.”

Lucian jerked at the sound of his voice. His eyes flickered to Callahan’s face and for a brief moment Sam saw a flash of fear flit over his eyes. Callahan’s gaze dropped to the floor.

“Should we call a feeder?” Vanessa asked hesitantly. 

“Baby boy can’t handle human blood,” Merrix sneered. 

Callahan cut a glare in Merrix’s direction. 

“He’ll need a fucking straw to drink now and I’m certainly not slitting my wrists for him to drink from, not for this dumbass.” Merrix sat forward on his elbows. The twisted smile on his face was downright manic. “Fucking idiot couldn’t even get snapping his father’s neck right.”

“And what fucking idiot shot himself with a tranq gun, leaving his charge to fend for himself?” Vanessa shot back. 

“Lucian,” Callahan said, looking back at the vampire, “who do you want to feed from?”

Lucian only curled in on himself further.

“God, you’re all useless,” Sam said with a sigh. She knew why Callahan wasn’t just walking over to Lucian and making him feed from him; the two had too much shit to sort through to do something so intimate. All the same, someone had to take matters into their own hands.

Sam walked across the room and perched on the edge of the coffee table.

“Hey, Lu,” she said quietly. “Douche face over there is actually right.”

Lucian released a small huff of laughter. He turned his head slightly to look up at her. She smiled at him.

“You gotta feed, so, here.” Sam brought her wrist to her mouth and bit into it.

Vanessa made a disgusted noise and turned away hurriedly. Lucian flinched as he watched Sam’s teeth break her own skin. Blood welled up in the wounds. Sam held out her arm.

Lucian scooted forward on the couch. He caught her arm gently in his hands and drew it to his mouth. He could barely open his mouth because of the sutures, so he simply pressed his lips to her wrist like a kiss. He lapped his tongue over the wound, urging the blood to flow.

The three minutes that followed were long and pregnant with an awkward silence. The only sounds that punctured the silence were muffled moans from Lucian as he drank. Sam could tell he was doing his utmost to keep the sounds at bay. His brows pinched together every time he released a noise, and his eyes were screwed shut in embarrassment. 

When Sam started to feel slightly light-headed, she reached out and patted Lucian on the shoulder.

“Alright, that’s enough,” she said. 

Lucian gritted his teeth together. If he had been able to get his teeth into her arm, he would have bit down hard to keep her from pulling back. As it was, it was easy for her to pull her arm away from his mouth. He released his hands and slumped back on the couch. He wiped his sleeve over his mouth, wincing as he rubbed the sutures.

Sam stepped back and set to work binding her wrist with a bandage. Her eyes roamed over Lucian’s face. Color was beginning to bloom in his cheeks and his eyes looked less glassy. 

“I don’t understand,” Lucian said as his eyes rose to Merrix, “what you meant.”

Merrix’s lips curled back from his teeth as he released a quiet growl.

“Your father survived,” he said. His tone was sharp, cutting and Lucian flinched away from it. 

“He had enough blood in his system to heal the damage you did to him,” Vanessa explained. 

“And you want to know why he had enough blood?” Merrix said. “Because he drained Ethan. Ethan’s _dead_ , and you couldn’t even manage to kill the man who killed him.”

Lucian dropped his eyes to the floor. His lips twisted and Sam saw tears well up in his eyes. He blinked hurriedly and swallowed. Merrix sighed in annoyance and slouched further in the chair. Sam didn’t blame him for his anger, and he was only taking it out on Lucian because he was the only Samarillian the room had to offer, but it would seem even he wouldn’t keep assailing Lucian when the vampire was on the verge of crying.

“Th-thank you all for helping me,” Lucian said quietly, “but could I, could I talk to Callahan alone for a second?”

“Of course he’s the only one you give a shit about,” Merrix muttered.

“You!” Lucian yelled, but he cut off with a pained cry. His hands flew to this mouth.

“I swear,” Sam said as she crouched beside Lucian, “if I have to stitch him up again, it’s your ass I’m kicking.” She shot a glare at Merrix.

Lucian’s hands dropped away from his mouth. Luckily the wounds on his face hadn’t split open again.

“You,” he continued, this time limiting the movement of his lips and jaw, “aren’t the only one who cared about Ethan, so don’t act like you’re the only one upset right now.” 

Merrix held Lucian’s gaze for a moment before shoving out of the chair and storming into the adjacent bedroom. 

Sam patted Lucian on the shoulder before following Merrix into the room. Vanessa joined them as well, leaving Lucian and Callahan alone.

* * *

I stared at the coffee table that stood between Callahan and myself. I couldn’t sense Callahan’s gaze on me. I had a feeling he had chosen an inanimate object to stare at as well. 

Now that I had Sam’s blood in my system—and was feeling much better for it—my brain was working a little bit faster. I still couldn’t completely wrap my head around what had happened in those final moments in the greenhouse. There had been a reason I hadn’t been healing and had needed Sam’s blood. That reason wasn’t one I could entirely wrap my head around.

I lifted my eyes slowly to Callahan’s face. He stiffened slightly, but his gaze remained on the floor. 

“What,” I started. I swallowed and tried again. “What are you?”

“My mother was a shifter,” Callahan said, his voice low. “My father is a vampire.”

“That’s not possible,” I whispered. “Shifters can’t conceive with vampires.”

“It’s rare, but not impossible,” Callahan said. 

“So you can heal from drinking blood,” I said.

“Yes.”

“But you don’t get thirsty?”

“No, I don’t need blood like vampires do,” Callahan murmured.

My eyes fell to the coffee table, but I wasn't really seeing it. My vision was filled with the memory of Callahan's throat slicing open, blood spraying everywhere. I blanched at the thought.

“I thought he’d killed you.” My voice was barely audible.

“I thought he had too,” Callahan said, “but then I woke with you in my arms and you were—“ Callahan’s face twisted briefly with grief. "I'm sorry I took so much blood from you," he whispered.

“Who knows that you’re…” I swallowed and could only manage a weak gesture at his general person. I couldn’t bring myself to utter the fact that he was a half-breed.

“Only me,” Callahan said, “and…your mother.”

My gaze jerked up and I met his eyes. We held each other’s gaze for a long moment. Callahan looked down at his interlaced fingers.

“Somehow she found out who my father is,” Callahan continued. “She said she’d hand him over to me if I did something for her in return.” Callahan ran his hand through his hair. “You know what my end of the deal was.”

“To spy on me,” I said quietly.

Callahan could only bring himself to nod.

“I hate you,” I hissed. The wounds in my face twinged with pain as the harsh words twisted my mouth.

“I’m sorry,” Callahan breathed. “When you were only a stranger, it was easy to do, but the more I got to know you, the harder it became, until I could barely bring myself to do it.”

“You couldn’t bring yourself to manipulate me?” I said. “How noble of you.”

“Lucian, I am truly, truly sorry for what I did to you,” Callahan said, his voice fracturing on the last word. 

“And why did you do it?” I asked. “So my mother could facilitate a happy reunion between you and your father?”

“No,” Callahan said. “That’s not what I want. The man who came to the apartment that night and did _that_ to my mother, that was my father. What he did to her…I’ll kill him for it.”

“You said that man was a shifter.”

“I lied.”

“You’re good at that,” I sneered. “Were you lying when you said you loved me?” I asked. My own voice threatened to break as a sob bubbled up in my chest.

“No,” Callahan said. “I do love you.”

“I hate you,” I said, my voice shattering with a sob. I dropped my face into my hands as tears streamed out of my eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” Callahan whispered. 

“I understand why you did it,” I sobbed, “but it doesn’t change the fact that you hurt me.”

Callahan didn’t answer.

“I want to forgive you,” I continued, by voice barely comprehensible I was sobbing so hard, “but I don’t know if I can right now.”

“You don’t have to,” Callahan said. “I don’t expect you to.”

“Are you going to go back to her?” I asked, lifting my face from my hands and gazing up at him.

“No, the deal’s off,” Callahan said. “When I went to help you in the greenhouse, that ended the deal.”

“Then, what are you going to do now?” I asked.

“Whatever you want me to do,” Callahan said.

I stared at him. It had hurt more than I thought was possible when my mother had taken the mark from me, when she'd taken Callahan from me. He'd meant so much to me, and I realized now, with the wound the mark had left still sore in the back of my mind, he still meant so much to me. Those feelings had never been fabricated by the mark or the bond. They'd been all mine and they still were. He'd used me, lied to me, but if he hadn't made that deal with my mother, I never would have gotten close to him.

Thoughts of the entire night as a whole rushed over me, and the tears came afresh. My father attacking me; whose blood had been on his face when I'd first laid eyes on him; that awful gut-wrenching feeling when I'd seen Callahan's throat split open. I'd really, truly thought he was dead and it had felt like my entire world had been shattered. Even staring at him now, I could quite fathom that he had survived that; I couldn't fully believe he was really truly there.

I stood up, crossed the room in three quick strides, and flung my arms around his neck. Callahan gasped. I climbed into his lap, pressing our chests together. I rested my forehead against the crook of his neck and breathed in deeply. His scent washed over me and I sighed in relief. Callahan's arms wrapped around me and he held me close.

"I need more time," I whispered, "to forgive you."

"I'll wait," Callahan said. "For you I'll wait."


	46. Chapter Twenty-Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally an update! sorry this took so long and it's short ugh! i was away at momocon last weekend and then i got sick, much surprise!

“Are you two finished yet?” Merrix snapped as he barged back into the living room. 

“Merrix,” Sam admonished with a roll of her eyes as she followed the other shifter with Vanessa trailing after her.

I glowered at Merrix, but I didn’t much mind the interruption. I had already slid out of Callahan’s lap in favor of perching on the arm of chair. My bare feet were tucked between his thighs. I had also wiped my face of tears, but I quickly ran my sleeve over my sutured cheeks again to try to erase as much evidence of crying as I could.

“You two make up?” Sam asked as she sat down on the couch I had abandoned. 

“They need to fuck first,” Merrix said, returning to his armchair. “Nothing like good makeup sex.” He didn’t grin, and that was considerably more terrifying than if he had smiled.

My eyes flickered hesitantly to his face, which was utterly expressionless. Yup, definitely wished he was grinning maniacally per usual. Him staring blank faced at the coffee table with slightly wide eyes was more disconcerting than any other expression could have been.

“We’re getting there,” Callahan said, his words pointedly in response to Sam and not Merrix as he looked at the former. 

“Merrix,” Vanessa said suddenly from her spot on the couch next Sam. Though her speaking was abrupt, her tone was a touch hesitant.

Merrix cut his blank gaze to her.

“What exactly happened to you?” Vanessa asked. “Lucian texted us saying you almost went rabid.”

“Mm, yeah,” Merrix said with a small, hollow laugh. “I did.” He reached up and brushed his fingers slowly through his hair. “It was like something was digging around in my skull, putting pressure on all my triggers. I started to shift and I knew if I did, I wouldn’t be in control, so you know—“ He pressed his forefinger to his temple and mimicked shooting himself in the head.

“That was the same for me,” Callahan said quietly. “When I got distracted, it was because it felt like something was in my head.”

My gaze slid slowly over to Callahan. His finger tips rested on his temple and he was frowning slightly. Something digging inside their heads; something like—

I swung my legs out of Callahan’s lap and stood abruptly. The shifters’ gazes flickered to me and I heard Callahan utter my name in confusion, but my thoughts were churning too loudly to focus on much at all. The memory of phantom fingers was crawling slowly through my skull. 

“Cal,” I finally said as I ran my fingers slowly through my hair, “I need you to take me to my mother’s room.”

“Okay,” Callahan said with a nod as he rose to his feet. 

“Get up,” I said, turning to Merrix. “You’re coming too.”

Merrix grumbled under his breath, but he stood.

“Do you need us to come as well?” Sam asked. 

“Could you go to my father?” I asked. My voice hitched on the last word and I cast a quick glance in Merrix’s direction, but he remained stony face. “Once he wakes up, find out everything you can about what happened and text me.”  
“Sounds good,” Sam said as Vanessa nodded.

“Does, does someone have my phone?” I asked, as I realized it wasn’t on my person.

Callahan handed it over. The screen was fractured slightly from its collision with the ground, but it was still perfectly usable. It was also charged to full, no doubt thanks to Callahan, meticulous as ever despite being in the midst of a crisis.

After I found a pair of shoes and socks, we all left my hotel room together. Callahan and I led the way down the hall toward the elevator bay. When we reached it, Sam pressed the down button, while Callahan pressed the up one. Sam and Vanessa’s elevator arrived first. They hopped in. Sam saluted me as the doors slid shut.

“Why are we going to see your mother?” Merrix muttered under his breath.

“I just need to talk to her,” I said in a low voice.

The elevator arrived at that moment and the three of us walked inside. Callahan selected the floor and we waited in silence as the elevator rose. Though vague ideas continued to tumble haphazardly in my head, I refused to entertain any of them long enough to formulate a coherent thought. I needed to follow my gut; following a line of thought might make me freeze up in fear. My hands shook slightly and I slid them into the pockets of my jeans.

The elevator doors opened. Callahan took the lead. I walked after him quickly, my eyes on his heels. Merrix strode along behind me. Silence reigned save for the soft pad of our footfalls. 

When we finally reached the room, Callahan stopped before the door and gestured to it.

“Here we are,” he said. 

I nodded, straightened my shoulders, and knocked lightly on the door. 

“Like anyone can hear that,” Merrix said with a roll of his eyes. He leaned forward and pounded his fist viciously against the door.

I rolled my eyes and huffed a small sigh. We waited quietly for any sort of response from beyond the door. When none came after a long minute, I glanced up at Callahan.

He stepped forward, sliding his wallet out of his back pocket, and pressed it to the lock pad. The light on the pad turned green. My lips pursed slightly. I wasn’t too thrilled that he’d been given a key card to my mother’s room.

I pushed the door open and moved inside. The shifters followed me. I gazed around the living room. It was devoid of personal effects, a fact that elicited a feeling of queasy unease in my gut.

“Mother?” I called. 

Merrix and Callahan went to the doors of the bedrooms. Callahan knocked politely while Merrix simply busted inside.

“Nothing here,” he said.

After glancing inside the bedroom, Callahan turned and nodded to report the same findings.

I gritted my teeth and pulled out my phone. I scrolled quickly through my contacts.

“You have her number?” Callahan asked.

“Yeah. Took it from my father’s phone a couple years ago,” I said. “Just ‘cause maybe…” I shrugged. Maybe I would have had the desire or guts to reach out to my mother, plead with her to return to my life. Neither had ever been strong enough to call her though. 

I dialed the number and brought my phone to my ear. The ringing blared in my ear. I licked my lips carefully as I waited with a growing sense of trepidation.

“Hello.” My mother’s smooth voice slid through the speaker.

“Hi, Mother,” I said quietly, hesitantly.

“Lucian, darling,” she practically purred. 

“Where are you?” I asked. “I’m at your room.”

“I had to take my leave unfortunately,” my mother said. “Some plans went awry.”

“Plans having to do with inducing frenzies?” I asked. I felt Merrix and Callahan’s gazes snap toward me, but I kept my gaze rooted on the carpet in front of my toes.

“Oh, you figured that out,” my mother said with a chuckle. “You’re smarter than you look.”

“You tried to make Merrix and Callahan go rabid,” I said, “but they survived, and what they described sounded an awful lot like what breaking the mark felt like.”

“Last ditch efforts never go very well,” my mother said with a sigh.

“Last ditch efforts to achieve what?” I asked. “What was the _point_?” My voice broke on the last word and I couldn’t manage more. I couldn’t manage to ask for the point of everything she’d done because she’d done so much more than just making vampires go into frenzies. She was responsible for the sanguine attacks and Alistair as well; she had to be. There was no way those were separate incidents.

“The point?” My mother laughed quietly. “Darling, the point was to put you down like the dog you are.”

I closed my eyes and took a slow, steadying breath. 

“You’re an abomination, Lucian,” my mother continued. “You shouldn’t _exist_. You’re dangerous, prone to blood frenzies, and could kill everyone in that resort given half the chance.”

“I’m dangerous?” I asked in a low voice. “How many people have you killed trying to put me down? Don’t flatter yourself. You aren’t doing this to rid the world of a monster; you’re doing this to rid the world of your husband’s bastard child.”

“That too,” my mother said sagely. “Give my regards to Callahan; tell him I hope his father ends him quickly and painlessly.” I could hear the sickening smile in her voice as she spoke. She hung up and I was left slowly lowering the phone from my ear.

I glanced over at Callahan. There was no doubt he’d heard both ends of the conversation. His jaw tightened slightly. He lifted his gaze to meet mine and his lips twitched in an attempt at a reassuring smile. It failed miserably and my stomach only twisted with more unease. 

“Well,” Merrix said, “that was an enlightening conversation on many a front.”

I slid my phone back into my pocket and turned away from the pair. Merrix was right; that conversation had been enlightening. My mother’s twisted motivation had never occurred to me. To think she’d done all this to kill me. I had never thought her abhorrence for me was so profound. 

I walked slowly toward the hotel room door. The shifters walked slowly after me. I pulled the door open and squeaked in surprise as I found someone standing there. 

The shifter in the doorway was flanked by two others. All three sets of eyes stared at me. Horror creased their faces at the sight of mine. They were dressed in sleek black suits, the small pins on their lapels identifying them as hotel security.

“Yes, he’s ugly as sin right now,” Merrix said as he slid an arm over my shoulders, “but quit staring. It’s rude.” A threat was buried in his tone and it jarred the shifters out of their reverie.

“Lucian Samarillian,” the man at the head of the trio said. “I am Nathan Fell, head of security.”

“I almost forgot this hotel had security,” he muttered under his breath and Fell sent him a quick glare. 

Callahan actually gave a derisive snort of agreement as he folded his arms.

“If you would all come with us,” Fell continued, his voice tight with thinly veiled annoyance. “We have a few questions regarding today’s attack.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a crisp high five to whom ever can guess what lucian is ;)


	47. Chapter Twenty-Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter and the last should just be one chapter but that's an extended edition edit oh well

My gaze was rooted on the desk that stood before me, as it had been for the past four minutes. I was more than a little disgruntled that I had been left alone in this pseudo interrogation chamber instead of Fell getting right into things. The room I was in was one of the many offices that littered the fifth floor of the hotel, a floor dedicated to the hotel’s security. 

After Callahan, Merrix, and myself had acquiesced to follow Fell, he had taken us to this floor and dropped us all off in separate offices. He’d explained on the walk that Sam and Vanessa had told him where we were; he’d gone first to speak with my father in the infirmary, only to find he hadn’t yet woken and three other shifters were waiting for him to do so. 

The door behind me creaked open and a palpable wave of both relief and anxiety washed over me. I twisted around to find Fell entering followed by another man. This one, however, was a vampire. He was of a height with Fell, though had distinctly less muscle mass. His hair was a tumble of red waves. He offered me a small, polite smile while Fell’s face remained taciturn. 

Fell crossed the room and took a seat behind the desk. The vampire followed and took up the chair beside. I glanced at him hesitantly, my fingers twisting together in my lap.

“Thank you for your patience, Lucian,” Fell said as he folded his hands together on the desk in front of him. “This is Owen. He will be monitoring your emotional state during the questioning.”

My blood ran cold at Fell’s words and my stomach twisted. Owen’s face creased with concern.

“You’re an empath,” I whispered.

“I am,” Owen said.

“Get him the fuck out of here,” I snapped at Fell, my eyes blazing with anger.

“Lucian, his presence here is critical,” Fell said.

“I’m not saying shit with him in here.”

“Don’t worry, Lucian,” Owen said as he reached out his hand. “I only—“ his fingers brushed my arm.

I lashed out, knocking his hand aside.

“Don’t touch me,” I gasped. My breathing was suddenly coming in haggard gasps and I could feel my heart trying to rip its way out of my chest. “Get him out of here.” My voice carried a pleading tone as I stared up at Fell beseechingly.

“Lucian,” Fell said with a gentleness in his voice that hadn’t been present until now. His eyes were soft with concern as he gazed at me. “It's okay. Owen can only assess emotions. He can’t manipulate them or read your thoughts. He’s essentially only a lie detector.”

I released a distressed whimper in place of any articulated words. My hands gripped the wooden arms of the chair so hard it was almost painful. Panic twisted my gut. I couldn't bear the thought of being this close to an empath after everything my mother had done.

“Lucian, he has to be here,” Fell explained. “I promise you; he wont do anything to invade your thoughts or tamper with your mind. He can only sense emotions.”

I glanced up to meet Fell’s gaze. His gaze was honest, calming. I took a steadying breath. My hands relinquished their vice grip on the chair and I nodded slowly. 

“Now, let’s begin. What happened between you and your father in the greenhouse?”

“I, um—“ I swallowed as I laced my fingers together in my lap. “Is, is he awake yet?”

“He is,” Fell said. “He woke a few minutes ago. I have someone with him now to get his side of things.”

“Can I, can I talk to him first?” I breathed.

“Lucian,” Fell said with a shake of his head, “I want to hear your account of the story, not what your father wants you to parrot.”

I flushed a deep red as my motives behind talking to my father were completely exposed. I bit my lip as I nodded slowly.

“Okay,” I said. Fell would already be aware that my father had succumbed to a frenzy. Lionel would have told the staff at the infirmary. There was no way of knowing whether my father would wake in a frenzy, since no vampire before him had survived these induced frenzies. “I, well, Merrix took me out of the ballroom when we saw the first frenzied vampire attack. We got far enough away from the crowd that we weren’t in danger there, but then Merrix, he, he started to go rabid.”

Fell’s eyes widened. He glanced quickly at Owen, who nodded, most likely to confirm I was telling the truth.

“So he sedated himself,” I explained. “I took him into the greenhouse. It was there my father found us.” I had no idea how my father had gotten to the greenhouse. My mother had most likely manipulated him to find me in order to off me. It would have been rather poetic justice if he had. He had put me into this world by his own hand; he might as well take me from it the same way. “He was, he was in a frenzy,” I continued. “We fought until Callahan showed up. Then those two went at it for a bit, but Cal, he got distracted because—“ I licked my lips and glanced sidelong at Owen—“My father slit his throat. Then he had I fought and I, well, I…” I trailed off as I glanced down at my hands. I’d almost killed him; I thought I had. 

“What happened next?” Fell prompted.

My fingers tightened into fists and the bandaging around my neck suddenly felt constrictive as the memory of Callahan’s fang washed over me. 

“Then I passed out from blood loss,” I said. 

Fell looked over at Owen. My eyes followed and I found Owen frowning slightly. My stomach twisted nervously.

“You were scared,” Owen said. 

“Yes,” I said with a nod. “I went to Callahan’s body; I thought, I thought he was dead.” My voice cracked on the last word. "I passed out on him."

Owen stared at me for a long moment before nodding slowly.

“The injuries to your face,” Fell said. “How were those sustained?”

“My father,” I said, naming the reason why I’d slit my cheeks open. I had yet to really, truly _lie_ during this interrogation; I could only hope Owen’s empathic abilities couldn’t detect me dodging the truth.

“Frenzied vampires don’t tend to maim,” Fell said.

“But my father always does especially with me.” My voice was low and I glanced up at Fell beneath my lashes. “I guess that tendency carried over when he was in the frenzy.”

Fell didn’t have a response to that. He glanced at Owen, not for confirmation but rather in fidgety discomfort. He cleared his throat and looked back at me.

“You mentioned Callahan became distracted; do you know the cause of that?” Fell asked.

I gritted my teeth. This question was veering into territory I hadn’t yet figured out to deal with. Did I tell Fell that my mother was responsible for everything? Did I explain her bitter hatred for my very existence was the reason behind why she’d wreaked so much havoc? Explaining that encroached to closely on explaining _me_ and I didn’t much like the thought of that, but I didn’t have to give all the details, which would be very much in keeping with how I’d been dealing with the entirety of this conversation.

“He said that it felt like there was something reaching inside his head. Something like fingers. Merrix said that was the same that had happened to him. I sent Vanessa and Sam to find out from my father if he’d felt that way before going into the frenzy. What they described—“ I glanced over at Owen —“that’s how it feels to have an empath rooting around in your head.”

Owen’s eyes widened at the implication of my words. He looked hurriedly at Fell.

“You’re saying,” Fell said slowly, “that an empath is responsible for forcing vampires into frenzies.”

“Yes,” I said. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

Though Fell asked whether I knew of any empaths capable of such a thing, I only shook my head. Owen didn’t pick up on the fib. It probably helped that the most overwhelming emotion I was experiencing was profound hatred towards empaths, specifically my mother.

Fell concluded the questioning and allowed me to leave, but I insisted on sticking around until Callahan and Merrix’s interrogations were finished. Merrix it would seem had already finished his questioning, given he had been conscious for the least amount of time, and he had left. Callahan finished shortly after me and we took our leave together. 

Asking after what he’d told his questioners, I found that he’d given the same story as me. We’d both named my father as being exclusively responsible for my injuries; Callahan had of course not confessed to drinking my blood. While he had touched upon being distracted in the fight, he hadn’t named an empath as being responsible for the sensation.

“I figured you’d want to handle that aspect how you saw fit,” Callahan explained.

When we arrived back at my room, Merrix wasn’t there. Vanessa and Sam were though. 

“We got the boot before we could talk to your father,” Sam said.

I nodded as I took a seat on the couch beside her. It would seem I’d be in the dark a little longer regarding what my father had experienced.

“Why did you go see your mother?” Vanessa asked. She was perched in one of the armchairs across from us. 

I only shook my head. I couldn’t bring myself to explain everything. Even thought of uttering another syllable exhausted me. My head was started to ache, as were the multiple injuries that littered my body.

“I, I think I need to lie down,” I breathed. I rose slowly to my feet, but teetered to the side.

Callahan’s arm wrapped around me instantly and I listed against his chest. I sighed in relief as his familiar scent washed over me. My eyelids suddenly felt impossible heavy. Callahan scooped me carefully into his arms and he carried me into my bedroom. He laid me gently on the bed and pulled the covers over me.

“Will you stay?” I mumbled, my hand capturing his wrist as he turned to leave.

“Of course,” Callahan said. He sat down onto the mattress beside me. 

I laced my fingers with his as I curled onto my side. Sleep captured me almost immediately and I fell into it with the comforting sound of Callahan’s heartbeat in my ears.


	48. Chapter Twenty-Five

“‘Sup,” Merrix drawled, a grin splitting his face.

Eden sighed quietly. He stepped back, still holding the door open for Merrix, and gestured for the other guardian to enter. Merrix loped into the living room and cast a quick glance around. 

“Where’s your master?” he asked.

Eden, who had followed him into living room, nodded toward the closed bedroom door to their left.

“On the phone,” he said in a low voice as he continued into his room.

Merrix walked after him. When he crossed the threshold, he reached back and pulled the door shut behind him. Eden glanced over as he heard the door click shut. His lips pursed slightly, but he didn’t comment. He climbed on the bed and leaned back against the headboard. A mound of blankets were nested around him and slid his legs beneath them.

“What you want?” Eden asked.

“Just wanted to say ‘hi’,” Merrix said. He walked across the room and perched on the edge of the mattress. “We haven’t had a chance to chat since my assignment changed.” His face split with a grin.

Eden’s teeth gritted together audible and color filled his cheeks. The temperature of the air increased almost imperceptibly. Merrix had known Eden long enough that he could pick up on the changing temperature around the guardian that indicated his mood. Merrix chuckled quietly.

“We’re not talking about that,” Eden murmured.

“Fine,” Merrix said with a long sigh. He dropped onto his elbow and gazed up at Eden. “We won’t. I wouldn’t want to upset you.“

Eden watched him narrowed eyes for a moment. Much of his and Merrix’s relationship had been Merrix upsetting Eden one way or another, but Merrix still didn’t breach the silence with an unsolicited comment. Merrix only stared back with a crooked smile on his lips. Eden nodded slightly, satisfied with his silence. He reached over to the bedside table and picked up a book, which he propped on his knee. Merrix stared at the slender fingers that captured the covers of the book. He followed them up pale, slight arms that carried only a hint of muscle. The paleness of his skin stood in stark contrast to the black t-shirt he wore. His neck had an elegant arch to it as he cocked his head at whatever he was reading. Merrix’s eyes rose to his face. The blush had died down. The tension in his lips had faded, leaving them soft and pliant. 

Merrix pushed up off the mattress. He leaned forward. Eden glanced up at the intrusion of his personal space. His brow crinkled in confusion, but he didn’t speak or make a move to increase the distance between the pair. Merrix pressed his lips to Eden’s. Eden sat stock still. His lips were ever so slightly parted in shock, but Merrix only pulled back, letting the kiss remain entirely a chaste one.

Eden jerked forward. Merrix had a single moment to hope that Eden was going to light him on fire, but suddenly Eden’s lips crashed into his. Merrix grunted as he fell onto his back on the bed. Eden crawled onto him, not breaking the kiss. He rocked his ass down against Merrix’s hips. Merrix groaned. His hands flew up and his fingers bit into Eden’s hips. He yanked his head to the side and sucked in a deep breath. Eden pressed his lips to the underside of Merrix’s jaw.

“What, what are you doing?” Merrix panted.

“What am I doing?” Eden said. His teeth nipped painfully at Merrix’s skin, just above the collar. “You’re the one who started this.”

“I didn’t think—“

“Then don’t start now.” 

Before Merrix could say anything more, Eden shoved two fingers into his mouth. Merrix choked in surprise and almost bit down, but a warning growl from Eden locked his jaw in place. Eden ran his fingers over the roof of his mouth and he moaned against the digits.

Eden slid his other hand between them and pressed his palm down on Merrix’s crotch. Merrix inhaled sharply through his nose as his cock stirred. He rocked his hips up against Eden’s hand.

Eden pulled his fingers out of Merrix’s mouth. He continued to press his hand against Merrix’s hardening length as he reached behind himself.

“What are you…” Merrix breathed.

Eden’s hand slipped into his pants and he released a rough gasp. Merrix groaned and his hips snapped up. Eden dropped his forehead against Merrix’s. His eyes were closed. He whimpered and moaned quietly as he worked himself open.

“Holy fuck,” Merrix hissed. His dick was painfully hard in his pants and he bucked up into Eden’s hand. “Fuck, Eden.”

“Shut up,” Eden snapped.

Merrix reached out, pushing Eden’s hand aside, and he quickly undid his jeans. He slid his hands into his pants, catching hold of his length. He released a long groan.

“Ed—“

Eden’s hand pressed over Merrix’s mouth and he shoved him back onto the mattress. Merrix stared up at him with wide eyes, and he grunted in an annoyed fashion to capture Eden’s attention. Eden’s eyes blinked open and he glared down at Merrix.

“I told you to shut up,” he snapped. “You’re making this difficult.”

Merrix’s tongue darted out and dragged over Eden’s fingers. Eden yipped in disgust and yanked his hand back.

“Making what difficult?” Merrix shot back at him.

“Pretending you’re Lucian, idiot,” Eden murmured.

Merrix gaped up at him. Eden huffed a small laugh that morphed into a moan as his fingers shifted. Merrix’s stomach twisted. Bile rose in his throat as his cheeks flushed. He inhaled sharply, his eyes prickling. Eden leaned forward, his breath ghosting over Merrix’s ear.

“You didn’t really think I’d wanna hook up with you, did you?” Eden murmured. “I know you only came here to rub in the fact that you’re Lucian’s guardian now. Figured I’d actually make your being here worth my while.” Eden leaned back slightly and glanced down at his face.

“Are you crying?” Eden asked in confusion. His head cocked to the side and he sat back in Merrix’s lap, his fingers slipping out of himself.

“No,” Merrix huffed as tears spilled out of his eyes.

“Oh my God,” Eden laughed. “You’re crying. Why the hell are you crying?”

Merrix’s head snapped to the side and he glared at the bundle of blankets beside himself. His cheeks were heating up and the goddamn tears just wouldn’t stop pouring down his face.

Eden caught Merrix’s chin between his fingers and turned his face back, but Merrix kept his eyes averted. 

“Why are you crying?” Eden asked in a low voice.

“Obviously because I like you,” Merrix snapped, glaring up at Eden, “and you’re being a fuck.”

“ _Obviously_? How the fuck was it obvious you like me?” Eden said with a shake of his head. “You were always downright cruel to me growing up.”

Merrix flushed and his lips twisted into a frown.

“Or do you function under the antiquated notion that bullying someone is a way of showing you like them?” Eden asked. When Merrix didn’t reply, he pressed on. “Besides you’ve always had a hard on for Ethan. Why don’t you go jump his bones instead?”

Merrix grimaced at the sound of Ethan’s name. His fingers dug into his Eden’s hips. He dropped his head to the side, a whimper falling off his lips as the tears returned with vigor. 

“And you say I’m the cruel one,” Merrix murmured, his voice husky. He looked up at Eden. “Why the fuck would you say that after—“ He gritted his teeth as another pained whimper threatened to escape.

“After what?” Eden said in confusion. 

Merrix stared up at him. Did he not know? How could he not? 

“Merrix, did you and Ethan have some sort of fight?”

“Are you fucking with me?” Merrix asked quietly. “Or do you seriously not know?”

“Know what?” Eden climbed carefully out of Merrix’s lap and perched next to him on his knees.

Merrix sat up slowly, his eyes downcast. The pathetic tears had yet to stop flowing and he sniffled quietly.

“Ethan’s dead,” he whispered. “Lucian’s dad killed him when he went into a frenzy.”

“Oh, God, Merrix,” Eden whispered. “I had no idea, I swear. I didn’t—I’m so sorry.”

Merrix could only shake his head as he stared blankly down at the bed.

Eden pushed forward and wrapped his arms around Merrix’s neck. Merrix sobbed quietly as he buried his face in Eden’s shoulders. His hands came up to cling to the back of Eden’s shirt. 

They stayed like that for what felt like hours, or maybe it was just minutes. Merrix had no idea. But Eden didn’t once complain or push him away, despite Merrix getting snot and tears all over his shoulder. He only sat there quietly, rubbing small circles into Merrix’s back and emitting a steady, comforting warmth.

* * *

Merrix waited patiently for the door of Lucian’s hotel room to open. He had yet to receive a key to the room and was thus dependent on the other residents of the room to let him in.

The door was pulled open a moment later. Callahan stood in the doorway. His eyes flickered over Merrix’s face as he stepped back to let him in.

“Where have you been?” Callahan asked.

“About,” Merrix replied with a shrug. He walked into the living room and flopped down on the couch.

Callahan followed after him. He went to one of the armchairs and sat down as well. 

Merrix groaned as he stretched out across the couch cushions. He had yet to catch a wink of sleep since waking up from his sedation, and so much had happened since then. He, and he was sure Callahan as well, had overheard both sides of the phone conversation Lucian had had with his mother. Merrix wasn't the least bit surprised that a member of the Samarillian clan — even a member only by former marriage—was responsible for everything that had happened. Eliandra's description of Lucian, dangerous and prone to blood frenzies, was far from inaccurate, but Merrix had grown up with Lucian, and nothing about him indicated that he was an abomination. Eliandra was just melodramatic as far as Merrix was concerned, but then again that was how the Samarillian clan tended to be.

As far as Merrix could tell, Lucian hadn't told security that his mother was the culprit. As was typical of Lucian, he was most likely inclined to wait and see what his father wanted to do on the matter. Merrix himself hadn't said a word during his interrogation. Lucian could deal with his mother how he saw fit, and besides from that, Merrix didn't have anything to report that security didn't already know.

“Lucian was worried,” Callahan said suddenly.

Merrix blinked his eyes open slowly and glanced over at Callahan. Callahan’s green eyes were on the coffee table, but he looked up as he felt Merrix’s gaze.

“Worried about what?” Merrix said with a snort.

“You,” Callahan said. “Since he didn’t know where you were. He was worried you were going to do something to get yourself hurt.”

“Seriously,” Merrix laughed. He sat up on his elbows. 

“Yes, seriously.” Callahan’s voice was flat. He was unamused by Merrix’s obvious derision. “He’s of the mind that Ethan was the only person keeping you from doing something stupid.”

“He’s not wrong,” Merrix said with a heavy sigh. He leaned back on the arm of the couch and stared up at the ceiling. “I’ll probably be paying Samarillian a visit soon.” Merrix flashed Callahan a wolfish grin.

“Don’t,” Callahan said in a low voice. A muted glow was brimming in his eyes.

The hair on the back of Merrix’s neck prickled as he felt the other alpha’s pheromones wash toward him.

“Why not?” he purred.

“Lucian can’t lose someone else right now,” Callahan replied.

“And it’s all about Lucian,” Merrix sneered.

“For me, yes.”

At that moment the subject of their conversation pushed his bedroom door open. Lucian stumbled bleary-eyed into the living room. He was dressed in short sleep shorts and a baggy tee that was tucked into the shorts in the front. He held his laptop against his chest. His yellow eyes lifted from the floor as he walked. Merrix stared at the stitched up gashes that split his cheeks. The sight of them twisted his stomach, not just because of how gruesome they looked, but also because Lucian had been his charge and he never should have allowed him to get that hurt.

Lucian's face fell into a scowl as he caught sight of Merrix on the couch.

“Hey, what’s up?” Merrix said with a lopsided grin as Lucian’s gaze fell on him.

“Don’t ‘hey what’s up’ me,” Lucian snapped as he stalked across the room. He came to a halt by the couch and glowered down at Merrix. “Where _were_ you?” His voice broke and his cheeks were immediately drenched with color.

“Aw.” Merrix looked past him at Callahan. “He _was_ worried. That’s adorable.”

“Of course I was,” Lucian hissed. He lifted his foot and kicked Merrix lightly in the leg.

Merrix laughed and caught Lucian’s ankle. Lucian gasped and hopped awkwardly to keep his balance.

“Adorable,” Merrix repeated. He leaned forward and kissed Lucian’s curled toes. 

Another gasp got caught in Lucian’s throat and he plopped down on the edge of the coffee table. Merrix laughed again, his breath brushing over Lucian’s foot. Lucian yanked against his hold and Merrix released him. He sat back against the arm of the couch and smirked at Lucian, who by now was a vibrant shade of red and looking anywhere but at him.

“Where were you?” Lucian gritted out.

“With Eden,” Merrix said. 

“Don’t vanish like that again,” Lucian grumbled, hazarding a glance at Merrix.

Merrix raised an eyebrow and Lucian looked away hurriedly. 

“At least tell me where you’re going,” he continued.

“Where did you think I was?” Merrix asked with an amused lilt in his voice.

Lucian’s jaw muscles flexed and his grip shifted on his laptop.

“Doesn’t matter,” Lucian muttered. He placed his laptop on his knees and pulled it open. 

Merrix watched him, the smirk slowly slipping of his lips. He knew where Lucian had thought he’d been; he'd thought he’d gone to pay Lucian’s father a visit. Doing that would end one of two ways: either with Merrix dead or Samarillian. Merrix quite enjoyed the prospect of either outcome. 

Merrix settled back against the arm of the couch and stared up at the ceiling. He listened to Lucian’s fingers smashing angrily across the keys. 

“What are you doing, Lu?” Callahan asked.

Merrix galnced at the pair out of the corner of his eye. Callahan had risen from his chair and was settling behind Lucian on the coffee table.

“Booking us plane tickets,” Lucian grumbled. “We’re leaving this stupid fucking hotel.”

“What if I wanna stay?” Merrix said with a pout.

“What if I don’t give a shit,” Lucian shot back, casting him a quick glare.

“Fair,” Merrix said with a soft laugh.

“And where are we going?” Callahan asked.

“Back to the Academy,” Lucian replied. “We’re spending the rest of the summer how I wanted to in the first place.”

Merrix closed his eyes and listened to the repetitive clicking of Lucian’s trackpad. The sound was actually rather soothing and he found himself starting to drift off to sleep. 

He didn’t, however, fall asleep entirely, and the sound of Lucian’s laptop closing pulled him from the edge of slumber. He blinked his eyes open and looked over. Lucian was handing his laptop over to Callahan. His eyes fell on Merrix as he stood up.

“Sit up,” he said in a soft voice.

Merrix did so slowly. He swung his legs off the couch. Lucian braced his knee between Merrix’s legs. Merrix’s gaze flickered quickly past the vampire to Callahan. Callahan watched the pair with a confused pinch between his brows.

Lucian’s fingers brushed Merrix’s neck. Merrix stiffened immediately and his gaze snapped back to Lucian’s face. Lucian slid his hands slowly along the collar.

“What are you doing?” Merrix breathed. His hands were starting to shake and he quickly balled them into fists.

“You don’t need this anymore,” Lucian said as he undid the buckle of the collar. 

“But,” Merrix said in a weak voice, “your father…”

Lucian pulled the collar away from his neck and dropped it onto the couch beside him. 

“Can choke,” Lucian said with a small smile. His hands rested against the bruised skin of Merrix’s neck. “We’re finished with him, Merrix.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's a wrap on arc two  
> i have the feeling arc three will be the final arc
> 
> i think i might slip in a small flashback arc centering around merrix at the samarillian mansion when he was growing up with eden and ethan and lu
> 
> i hope yall enjoyed arc two!! i need to get better at concluding climaxes -.-


End file.
